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THE 



UNITED STATES; 



POWER AND PROGRESS. 



BY 



GUILLAUME TELL POUSSIN, 

LATE MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES. 



FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE THIRD PARIS EDITION. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 



BY 



EDMUND L. DU BARRY, M. D., 

SURGEON U. S. NAVY. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO AND CO., 

SUCCESSORS TO GRIGG, ELLIOT AND CO 
1851. 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, 

PKINTEKS. 



^^a 



TRANSLATOE'S PREFACE. 



The history of the American colonies — the circumstances which 
led to their federal organization — the patience and energy with 
which they worked out their national independence, and deve- 
loped the vast political association now denominated the United 
States — the industry and ability with which the people of these 
States sought to realize the stupendous agricultural, commercial, 
and industrial resources of their immense Continent, with its fer- 
tile territory, its magnificent rivers, its inland seas, and its varied 
climates — their subsequent gigantic strides towards the highest 
pinnacle of national greatness ; in fine, the character of the 
American people themselves, connected together by a vast chain 
of internal communication, enjoying in the highest degree all the 
elements of material prosperity, and united by common hopes, 
common sentiments, common interests, and common historical 
associations — may well claim the attention of the gravest historian, 
of the most enlightened statesman, and of every one interested in 
the progress of civilization. 

To develop the consecutive steps of this progress is the object 
of the present work. A resident in the United States for many 
years, the author has enjoyed ample opportunities of observing 
the practical workings of democracy. A member of the Board of 
Topographical Engineers appointed by the American Government 
to examine the physical resources of our territory for national 
defence, and to trace the lines required to form a complete base 
of operations, in time of war, on the assailable portions of our 
frontier, his descriptions of the internal improvements of the 
United States may be considered the result of direct experience. 
With feelings warmly interested in our national welfare, his 



iv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

work has been, in the truest sense of the term, a labor of love. 
As such, we commend it to the American reader. 

The translator deemed it unnecessary to swell the present 
volume with the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing 
statistics contained in the original work, taken from tables pub- 
lished in the year 1840 ; for these statistics, though of great 
advantage to the French reader at the period of their publication, 
can scarcely be considered valuable at the present time to the 
American reader, who can at any moment avail himself of far 
more ample and satisfactory materials. Besides, we may say, 
without using metaphorical language, that the lapse of ten years, 
in our rapidly growing country, renders the statistics of the prior 
decennial period almost antiquated. 

In conclusion, the translator need only say that he has endea- 
vored to perform his task with the utmost fidelity. The manner 
in which it has been accomplished he leaves to the judgment of 
the impartial reader. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 5 

PART I. 

ORIGIN — INSTITUTIONS — POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER I. 

1000—1529. 

DISCOVERIES AND riRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE SCANDINAVIANS, SPANISH, FRENCH, AND 

ENGLISH. 

Scandinavian colony — Christopher Columbus — The Normans, Rouhellese, and Diep- 
pese — Americus Vespucius — Gaspard Cortereal — Peter de Guy — John Davis of 
Harfleur — Thomas Aubert of Dieppe— John Ponce de Leon — Baron de Lery — 
Vasqiiez de Ayllon — Verazani — Pamphilius de Narvaez ... 33 

CHAPTER II. 

1530—1568. 

DISCOVERIES AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AND SPANIARDS. 

James Cartier— River St. Lawrence — Montreal— Fernando de Soto — Florida — Mis- 
sissippi— Luis Moscoso de Alvaredo — Pensacola — Mobile— Francis de la Roche, 
de Roberval, first governor of the French possessions in America — James Cartier 
founds Royal Isle — Tristan de Luna visits Florida — Schisms of the Anglican Church, 
of Calvin — Religious discussions — Reformers, Brownists,. Puritans, Independents, 
Congregationalists — John Ribaut and Rene de Laudonniere, in Carolina, dis- 
cover Port Royal Bay; make the first settlements there; give French names to 
the rivers — Destruction of this colony by Pedro Menendez — Settlement of St. 
Augustine— Dominic de Gourges revenges himself upon the Spaniards . 43 

CHAPTER III. 

1570—1608. 

DISCOVERIES AND COLONIZATION OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, engaged ;ti creating a navy — Martin Frobisher — 
Letters patent granted to Humphrey Gilbert for the discovery of unknown lands ; 



vi CONTENTS. 

he perishes on his voyage — New letters granted to Sir Henry Gilbert; his fruitless 
voyage — John Davis — New letters granted to Sir Walter Raleigh — Discovery 
of Virginia — Sir Richard Greenville at the Island of Roanoke; he leaves settlers 
there; they perish — Hariot; introduction of tobacco into Europe; abandonment 
of the colonization of Virginia — Chaton and Noel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence — 
Ravillon commences a sealing voyage — Marquis de la Roche appointed Lieute- 
nant-General of the French Possessions in America ; he leaves settlers on Sable 
Island — Mr. Chauvin founds Tadoussac — Captain Grosnold — Captain Champlain 
— Commandant de Chatte — Martin Pring visits the coast of Maine — Messieurs 
de Montz, Champlain, de Pautrincourt, and Pontgrave — Establishment of Port 
Royal (Annapolis) — Establishments upon the St. Croix River — Captain Cham- 
plain on the coast of New England — George Weymouth — Second voyage of Sieur 
de Pautrincourt; he is accompanied by L'Escarbot — James the First, King of 
England, concedes to his subjects all that part of America bearing the name of 
Southern and Northern Virginia — A company from Plymouth seeks to settle in 
Northern Virginia — Second expedition under the orders of Raleigh Gilbert; it 
visits the shores of the Kennebec — Captain Newport and the celebrated author, 
John Smith, settle Southern Virginia, and found establishments upon James 
River, which flows into Chesapeake Bay — Firm administration of this new 
colony — Conclusion 52 

CHAPTER IV. 

1608—1620. 

COLONIZATION OF THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND DUTCH. 

Quebec founded by Champlain; he examines Lake Ontario, Sorrel River, Lake 
Champlain, the Mohawk, and Hudson. — Colony of New Holland, or New Belgium 
— Discovery of Captain Hudson; first settlement upon Manhattan Island — The 
Sieur de Pautrincourt — Attack on the French settlements of Port Royal by the 
inhabitants of Virginia, under the orders of Captain Argall — This officer visits 
New Holland with the intention of opposing the rights of the Dutch — Fort 
Orange founded by the Dutch — Champlain penetrates into the interior of Canada ; 
attacks the Iroquois — Caron, the missionary, on Lake Huron. — Colony of Virginia; 
spirit of its administration — Jamestown founded by Captain Smith; he returns 
to England — Lord Delaware, his successor — Martial law in force until the 
arrival of Governor Yeardley — First colonial assembly — The colony receives a 
constitution and an independent administration from the proprietors — First 
African slaves introduced into Virginia 64 

CHAPTER V. 

1620—1639. 

COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 

The eastern coast of America receives the name of New England — The English 
make several voyages to it for the purpose of trading with the natives — Plymouth 
Colony; its establishment; its early governmental and administrative organization ^ 
— James the First grants new letters patent to a company under the title of Grand 
Council of Plymouth for Colonizing New England, whose object was to prevent the 
Puritans from settling in New England — Captain John Mason, member of the 



CONTENTS. vii 

Council of Plymouth, receives the domain of 3Iariana, in New Hampshire — First 
establishments of Portsmouth ; its advantages for the fisheries — Royal concession 
of Acadia, under the name of Nova Scotia, by King James, to Sir William 
Alexander — Designation of what was then meant by Acadia — Grant of Charles 
the First to Sir Fernando Gorges — Geographical division of the Continent of 
North America "^2 

CHAPTER VI. 
1620—1653. 

COLONIZATION OF THE rBENCH, ENGLISH, AND DUTCH. 

Canada colony; its population somewhat increases under Louis the Thirteenth — The 
Sieur d'Aunay de Charnis6 and M. de la Tour ; jealousy between these two 
chiefs — French posts in Canada — New Amsterdam founded — Establishment on 
Long Island — Northern Colony of Virginia, or Grand Council of Plymouth ; its go- 
vernmental and administrative organization — Salem founded — Fiscal exaction of 
Laud, which drives numerous emigrants to New England — The Colony of New 
Plymouth assumes its own authority to remove the seat of the company from 
the mother country to America — John Winthrop elected governor — Dorchesteri 
Charleston, and Boston founded — The Dutch extend their establishments — Gus- 
tavus Adolphus forms the project of creating a colony in America — Canada colony 
— The colony created by Richelieu does not fulfil its engagements — The colony of 
New France succeeds it — Hostilities between France and England, during which 
the establishments in Canada fall into the hands of the English — Evil system of 
French colonization . . . . . ■ . f" . . 79 

CHAPTER VII. 

1630—1700. 

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. 

Massachusetts Bay colony; its rapid growth — The inhabitants publish a bill of rights 
— Political organization — Confederation of the New England colonies — New 
charter of William and Mary — The colony subjected to a provincial government 
— Extent of the new province — Connecticut and New Haven colony ; its govern- 
ment, founded on religious dogmas, a perfect democracy — Rhode Island colony — 
Foundation of Providence and Newport — The emigrants from England become 
more numerous — Cromwell about to embark for America ; is prevented by a 
royal edict — The government of Rhode Island likewise founded in a spirit of 
pure democracy — The spirit of religious tolerance which distinguishes the inha- 
bitants of this colony .......... 89 

CHAPTER VIII. 

1623—1700. 

ENGLISH AND DUTCH COLONIES — NEW AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY. 

New Holland founded by Calvinists in New York Bay — Cromwell, the Protector, 
forms the project of taking possession of it — First popular assembly — The people 
retain the right of making laws — Rapid growth of New Amsterdam — A refuge 
for the persecuted and strangers from all parts of the world — Introduction of 



viii CONTENTS. 

slaves — Tendency of the inhabitants of New England to emigrate, with the 
object of improving their condition — Charles the Second grants a part of the 
American territory, which he has already disposed of in favor of particular 
companies by letters patent, to his brother, the Duke of York — The English take 
forcible possession of the Dutch colony — The conquest insured to the crown of 
England by the treaty of Breda — Population of New England ; of Boston — New 
Amsterdam takes the name of New York; Orange that of Albany — Territorial 
extent of the New York colony — Colony of New Jersey ; its government organ- 
ized on the model of those of the colonies of New England ... 98 

CHAPTER IX. 

1628—1700. 

ENGLISH AND SWEDISH COLONIES — DELAWARE, PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, AND NOHTH 
AND SOUTH CAROLINA COLONIES. 

Swedish colony of Delaware, projected by Gustavus Adolphus, founded by Oxenstiern, 
and established upon the liberal principles which especially characterize religious 
toleration — Brief existence of this colony — Its invasion by the Anglo-Saxons of 
New England — Colony of Pennsylvania founded by William Penn ; it receives 
a popular government founded on religious toleration. — The Delaware colony 
organized and administered by English laws. — The Maryland colony founded by 
Lord Baltimore and Catholic emigrants; adoption of a popular government, 
based upon religious toleration and instruction — Conspiracy of the Protestants — 
Persecution of the Catholics — Situation of the colony in 1763. — Colonization of 
North Carolina, founded principally by emigrants from New England — Lord 
Clarendon, prime minister, proprietor of a vast domain in America, projects the 
creation of a landed aristocracy; consults the celebrated philosopher, Locke, 
relative to the form of a constitution adapted to his new empire of America — The 
emigrants select for themselves a popular government, and the system of Locke 
is abandoned. — Colony of South Carolina; founded by Joseph West at Beau- 
fort — Popular government adopted by the first emigrants — Introduction of the 
representative system — Charleston founded — Scotch emigration — Intestine diffi- 
culties — Governor Colleton wishes to enforce martial law, but the inhabitants 
resist — William and Mary recall Colleton, and the representative system prevails 
— Consequences deduced from this chapter, and precedents relative to the pro- 
gress of the English colonies on the American Continent, to the exclusion of the 
rival nations which had there established themselves, with rights based on a more 
equitable foundation . . . . . . . . . .103 

CHAPTER X. 

1660—1671. 

FRENCH COLONIES — CANADA, OR NEW TRANCE. 

Parallel drawn between the origin of the French and that of the English colonies 
— La Mothe-Cadillac — Zeal and courage of the missionaries — Levying of tithes 
by the clergy — West India Company — M. de Tracy — Renewal of hostilities by 
the Iroquois; by the Anglo-Americans — Attack on Port Royal — Freedom of trade 
restored to Canada — New coin put in circulation — It is replaced by paper money 
— Marquette establishes the post of St. Mary — Convocation of the Indian na- 
tions at St. Mary — The intendant Talon — Posts founded on Lakes Ontario and 



CONTENTS. ix 

Erie — French namesdesignate the principal geographical points of the north- 
west — Establishment of Fort Cataracouy, also called Frontenac . . 116 

CHAPTER XI. 

1671—1700. 

FRENCH COLONY — NEW FRANCE. 

Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet — Voyage of Robert Cavalier 
de la Salle — Discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi — He establishes the post 
of the Illinois, and indicates the line of posts necessary to unite his new discoveries 
with the Canadian domain — Critical situation of Canada; M. de la Barre assem- 
bles the notables — Policy of the Indians towards the Europeans — M. de Denon- 
nlle — M. de Champagny — Montreal almost destroyed by the Iroquois — The 
English colonies project the conquest of Canada — Attack and fall of Port Royal 
— Montreal and Quebec are also attacked, but resist' — Port Royal retaken by the 
French — Post of Nekoat on the St. John — M. de Frontenac governor; he finally 
compels the Indians to make peace — Territorial extent of the French and Eng- 
lish possessions — Population of these colonies 123 

CHAPTER XIL 

1700—1750. 

FRENCH COLONIES — NEW FRANCE. 

Settlement of Detroit by M. la Mothe-Cadillac — The Canadians refuse to pay the 
tithe — Governor Collieres — De Vaudreuil — Canal near Montreal — Renewed 
hostilities in America — Attack on Port Royal — Expedition against Acadia — Cap- 
ture of Port Royal — Attack on Quebec — Peace of Utrecht — Commencement of 
the wars for commercial advantages — Settlement of Breton, or Royal Island — 
Brotherhood of St. Sulpicius — Sieur Vincennes — Colony of the Isle St. John 
— Fortifications of Louisburg — Lewistown — Charlevoix in America — Posts of 
Toulouse, Dauphin, and Nevieka — Bed of coal in Acadia — Quebec and Mon- 
treal; their importance — M. de Varendry crosses from the borders of the St. Law- 
rence to the Pacific coast — Foundation of Halifax — The people of New England 
contemplate the conquest of New France — Capture of Port Royal — M. de la 
Galissonniere adopts means of resistance against the encroachments of the An- 
glo-Americans — Ohio officially taken possession of — Colonization of the western 
countries — Population of New France; its resources; its revenues . 131 

CHAPTER XIII. 

1750—1763. 

FRENCH COLONY — NEW FRANCE. 

Marquis Duquesne is appointed Governor of Canada — He undertakes an expedition 
with the design of checking the encroachments of the Anglo-Americans in the 
west — He builds several forts — Fort Duquesne at Pittsburgh — Forts Maehaut 
and LebcEuf— Braddock's defeat — Advantages of Pittsburgh as a manufacturing 
city ; its present condition — Disposition of the military posts occupied by the 
French, and by the English — Renewal of hostilities between the two nations — 
Removal of the inhabitants from Acadia — Attack and capture of Forts Oswego 



X CONTENTS. 

and George by the French — The Anglo-Americans attempt to retake Fort George, 
but fail, with a loss of four thousand men — Attack of Louisburg — Heroic de- 
fence of the garrison, in which Governor Drucourt and his wife take an active 
part — Siege of Quebec — Death of Generals Wolf and Montcalm — Capitulation 
of the Canadian forces — A handful of troops and Canadians, attempting to retake 
their capital, surrenders to three armies sent to surround it — New France falls 
into the power of the English 143 

CHAPTEK XIV. 

1700—1763. 

ANOLO-AMERICAN COLONIES. 

English Revolution of 1688 — Its character and influence; slave trade decreed by 
Parliament — Introduction of slaves into the American colonies — Violence of the 
Puritans against the Catholic priests — Fresh quarrels between the English and 
French colonies relative to the boundary line of their respective frontiers — The 
American colonies project the conquest of Canada — Renewed attack upon Port 
Royal, which fails — Destruction of the French settlements upon the Penobscot, 
in the province of Maine — Difficulty of adjusting the frontiers between Spain 
and England — Hostilities which follow — Creation of the new colony of Georgia — 
Its object; form of its administration — Oglethorpe, principal founder of this 
colony — He attacks St. Augustine, and is repulsed — Attack of the Spaniards upon 
the English settlements of St. Simon ; their complete route — Introduction of 
African negroes as slaves — Georgia changes its government — Captain John 
Reynolds — Adoption of a new administration, founded upon principles of liberty 
and independence — Relattv* forces of the French and English colonies on the 
renewal of hostilities — Result of that last conflict — Canada and the north-western 
territories become the property of England — Occupation of the north-west by the 
Anglo-Americans — The Indians take up arms to drive the Americans from their 
territories, and maintain their allegiance to France — The chief, Pontiac ; failure 
of his project — Prosperity of the American colonies secured . . . 151 

CHAPTER XV. 

1763—1783. 

AirOLO-AMZillCAN COLONIES. — UNITED STATES. 

Occupation of the western countries by the Americans — Recollections of the 
French settlers in those countries — Visit of General Lefebvre Desnouettes to St. 
Genevieve — Struggle between England and her colonies — The metropolis at- 
tempts to impose restrictions on the commerce of the colonies — Stamp Act — 
Ferment which it occasions — Convocation of a congress in New York proposed 
by the Assembly of Massachusetts — Repeal of the Stamp Act — New custom house 
bill — American associations against English commerce — Military occupation of 
Boston — The Assembly of Virginia and other colonies vote remonstrances — Fer- 
ment of the people, and the crisis which it produces in Boston — Symptoms of 
irritation rapidly disclosed in all the colonies — A cargo of tea thrown overboard 
at Boston — Closing of the port of Boston — Formation of a general congress in 
Philadelphia — Composition of this first assembly — Resolutions adopted by it — 
Restrictions of the commerce of the provinces of New England by the English 
Parliament — Climax of the causes of dissension between the mother country and 



CONTENTS. xi 

her colonies — Levying of troops in New England; battle of Lexington; of 
. Bunker Hill — Second session of Congress in Philadelphia — Manifesto published 
by this assembly — A levy of twenty thousand men voted by Congress — George 
Washington, a member from Virginia, elected commander-in-chief of the forces 
of the Confederation — Washington's arrival at Cambridge — Attack and capture 
of Montreal by the Americans under General Montgomery — Quebec attacked — 
Death of Montgomery — Thomas Paine — His " Common Sense" — Sitting of the 
Federal Congress on the 8th of June, 1776 — Declaration of Independence — Act 
of Confederation — Treaty of alliance and commerce between the United States 
and France — Powerful co-operation of this great ally — Capitulation of Yorktown 
— England acknowledges the independence of the United States — Definitive 
treaty of peace between France, England, and the United States — Respective 
boundaries fixed by this treaty — Advantages reserved by the contracting parties. 

163 

CHAPTER XVI. 

1783—1800. 

THE AMERICAN UNION. 

Financial condition of the United States on the return of peace — Congress enacts a 
law for the settlement of the country to the north-west of the Ohio — Weakness 
of the General Congress to administer the afiairs of the United States — New 
constitution proposed and adopted — Congress of 1789; General Washington 
elected President of the Union — Amendments to the new constitution — First 
official census of the United States — Secretaries of State, of War, and Treasury, 
constituted — The courts of justice organized — Supreme court — District courts — 
Organization of the public revenue — Collection of customs — Building and support 
of light houses, signals, &c., for the security of navigation — Alexander Hamilton 
presents his celebrated report upon the finances — Creation of a national bank — 
Monetary system — The United States selects a federal district, and founds the 
city of Washington, which becomes the seat of the principal federal authorities, 
of Congress, and the capital of the United States — Recapitulation of the his- 
torical summary of the English colonies — The principle of independence as old 
as the colonies — New History of the United States by George Bancroft — History 
of the American Revolution by Jared Sparks — The principle of the Union very 
ancient; its strength drawn from the variety of the elements which compose it — 
Great example furnished by the American democracy . . . . 175 

CHAPTER XVII. 

1678—1717. 

rRENCH COLONIES — LOUISIANA. 

Discovery of the Mississippi by Fernando de Soto; by Robert Cavalier de la Salle, 
who settles Texas; his unfortunate end — M. Iberville, founder of Louisiana, 
establishes a post at Biloxi ; Isle of Massacre ; Baton Rouge ; returns to Louisiana 
— Attempt of the Anglo-Americans to forestall the occupation of the Mississippi 
by the French — M. de Bienville — Louis XIV. refuses to grant the Protestants per- 
mission to settle in Louisiana — M. de Tonty — Foundation of the post of Balize; 
of Natchez ; of Baton Rouge — Journey of M. de St. Denis to New Mexico — 
Settlements on Dauphin Island — Intrigues of the Anglo-Americans of the Caro- 



xii CONTENTS. 

linas among the Indians of Louisiana — Arrival of the missionaries ; prostitutes 
destined to people the colony — Construction of Fort Conde at Mobile — M. la 
Mothe-CadillaC' — M. Crozat becomes proprietor of Louisiana, and of its com- 
merce for a period of fifteen years — Description of the settlements on Dauphin 
Island in 1716 ; visit to the same place one hundred years later — M. Crozat re- 
nounces his privileges . . . . . . . . . .184 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

1717—1731. 

FRENCH COLONIES — LOUISIANA. 

Louisiana ceded to the West India Company — Company organized by John Law — 
His financial system — Colonial administration — Site of New Orleans selected by 
M. de Bienville — Military force of the province — A post founded on Red River 
— Distribution of the factories of the West India Company — Mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi — New territorial division adopted by the Company — Distribution of posts 
— Chiefs placed in command of them — Their respective emoluments — Establish- 
ments of the Jesuits — Ursuline nuns — Missions and parishes — Intervention of the 
English in the war against the Indians — Massacre perpetrated by the Natchez — 
Destruction of that tribe — The remnant that escapes takes refuge among the 
Chicactas — West India Company . . . . . . . .198 

CHAPTER XIX. 

1732—1769. 

FRENCH COLONIES — LOUISIANA. 

Administration of Governor Perrier — He is succeeded by M. de Bienville — War 
against the Chicactas Indians — Defeat of a party led by M. d'Artaguette — Death 
of this worthy officer — Another engagement with the Chicactas — Establishment 
of Natchitoches — Depth of water found in the channels of the Mississippi — 
Population of Louisiana — Its military forces — Administration of M. de Kerlerek 
— Introduction of the cultivation of the sugar-cane by M. Dubreuil — M. de Ker- 
lerek foils the projected attacks of the Anglo-Americans — Cession of Louisiana 
to Spain — Arrival of Governor Ulloa — The citizens refuse to submit to Spanish 
domination — Conspiracy to effect their expulsion — Decree issued by the superior 
council, obliging Governor Ulloa and the Spanish troops to leave the colony — 
Claims of the Louisianians on the French government — O'Reilly sent by the 
court of Madrid to take possession of Louisiana — The Louisianians, wishing to 
declare the independence of their country, apply to the English, then at Pen- 
sacola, to assist them — O'Reilly's arrival at New Orleans — He promises an am- 
nesty, and forgetfulness of all that has occurred, but orders the execution of six 
of the principal conspirators ......... 208 

CHAPTER XX. 

1512—1821. 

SPANISH COLONIES — LOUISIANA, FLORIDA. 

Discovery of Florida ; its settlement — St. Augustine founded — St. Joseph's Bay — 
St. Mark — Pensacola — Conduct of the Spaniards towards the natives — Occupation 



CONTENTS. xiii 

of West Florida by the Englisli — Louisiana ceded to Spain — The English driven 
from their posts in West Florida — Situation of the colony at that period — Form 
of the government and of the administration — New boundary treaty between 
Spain and the United States — The Americans obtain the free navigation of the 
Mississippi, and the right to store their produce in New Orleans — Difficulties 
arising from the execution of this treaty — Louisiana re-ceded to France ; subse- 
quently sold by the French Republic to the United States — Importance of this 
acquisition to the United States — Spain for several years keeps possession of 
East Florida — Definitive cession of all Florida to the United States — Its political 
advantages to the American Union . . . . . . .217 

CHAPTER XXI. 

OREGON TERRITORY. 

Description of Oregon territory — Historical summary of all the partial or complete 
expeditions to the north-west coast of the Pacific, and Oregon territory — Ex- 
pedition of Captains Lewis and Clarke — Settlement of the Columbia by J. J. 
Astor — Occupation of the American establishments by the English — Convention of 
1818 — Hudson's Bay Company — Its organization — Sandwich Islands — Treaty of 
1823 between Russia and Great Britain — Negotiations commenced, in 1827, 
between England and the United States — Treaty of 1828 between the United 
States and Mexico — Measures adopted by the government at Washington rela- 
tive to the occupation of Oregon — Emigrations of Americans towards the western 
regions — Final settlement of the Oregon territory . . . . .227 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Conclusion 285 



PART II. 

MILITARY, AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

CHAPTER I. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Origin of the national defence — First project of it embodied in the Constitution of 
1787 — Circumstances unfavorable to its accomplishment — The fourteenth 
Congress orders its establishment — Arrival of General Bernard in the United 
States — Organization of a Board for the National Defence — Its labors — Military 
reconnoissance of the interior, and of the maritime frontier of the Union — 
General plan adopted for the defence of the coast — 'Elements of this American 
system 297 

CHAPTER II. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Its gradual organization, and present importance — Its effective strength — Yards for 
building and repairs — Ports of shelter — Roadsteads .... 303 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK III. 

NATIONAL DIFENCE. 

Fortifications — Their object — Character — Armament — Jurisdiction , , 316 

CHAPTER IV. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Description of the several maritime frontiers of the United States, and of their 
military organization — Ports of Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Charleston, and Pensacola ....... 320 

CHAPTER V. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Description of the Northern Line, and of its defensive organization — Hydrography 
of tha great Lakes — Western Line ....... 330 

CHAPTER VI. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Arsenals — Armories — Depots — Magazines — Foundries .... 336 
CHAPTER VII. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Importance of natural navigable channels in a system of defence — Physical aspect 
of the American territory — Number and distribution of the natural channels of 
commimication ........... 339 

CHAPTER VIII. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Progress of Steam navigation ; its physical and moral effects on the American nation 
— Number of steam vessels — Effective force — Tonnage — Accidents — Expense 
of navigation on the Atlantic; on the Western rivers; on the Lakes^Price of 
transportation — Relations of steam navigation to the national defence . 345 

CHAPTER IX. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Canals — Origin; classification — Lines from east to west, or from the great rivers of 
the Atlantic to those of the Valley of the Mississippi — Lines connecting the lat- 
ter with the Lakes and with the St. Lawrence — Line parallel to the coast — Most 
important canals in the United States — Recapitulation .... 354 

CHAPTER X. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Origin of railroads — Common roads in the United States before their introduction — 
Distinctive character of American railroads — How the railroad is directly con- 
nected with the defence of the country — Example of its application in transport- 



CONTENTS. XY 

ing troops and munitions of war — Economy of its employment — Technical 
details concerning American railroads — Classification; length; cost; repairs; re- 
turns; mode of construction — American locomotives — Establishments where they 
are constructed — Cars for baggage and freight — Current expenses of the railroad — 
Fare for passengers; freight on merchandize — Financial embarrassment resulting 
from the extraordinary extension of the railroad — The future . . 371 

CHAPTER XI. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Numerical force of the American army — Power of Congress to increase it, accord- 
ing to necessity — Corps of officers ; its distinctive character — No retired list author- 
ized by law — Mode of recruiting — Difference of rank between the commissioned 
and non-commissioned officers — Discipline of the garrisons and encampments 
of the federal troops — The prerogatives of the municipal authority always respect- 
ed — No body of troops can be stationed in any State without the permission of 
the local authorities .......... 390 

CHAPTER XII. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

The militia the principal element of national defence — Peculiar aptitude of the 
Americans for defensive war — Numerical force of the militia — No State law 
prohibits the collection of troops on the spot where an election is held — Electoral 
rights of the people maintained by thfe laws ...... S95 

CHAPTER XIII. 

SPIRIT OF CONQUEST AMONG THE AMERICANS. 

Origin of American society — Influence on this society of the Anglo-Saxon race — 
Characterized by a spirit of encroachment — Its extraordinary activity requires an 
extension of territory .......... 399 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Causes which contribute to render the climate of the United States temperate — 
Meteorological observations taken by order of the medical department of the army, 
and the results they establish — Three very distinct climates in the United States, 
corresponding with the territorial divisions of the coast, of the interior, and of 
the borders of the great Lakes — The number of clear and cloudy days corre- 
sponding with the same divisions — Quantity of water that falls — Mean tem- 
perature of various parts of the United States — Theory of storms and gales by 
Professor Espy . . • 401 

CHAPTER XV. 

POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Increase of population in the United States : 1st. Among the whites ; 2d, among the 
free blacks ; 3d, among the slaves ; 4th, among the blacks, slave and free ; 6th, 
total population of all these classes — Proportions of the sexes — Slavery—Growth 
of the principal cities of the Union — Conclusions 413 



xvi CONTENTS. 

i 

CHAPTER XVI. 

HEUGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Religious character of the early inhabitants — Diffusion of knowledge among them 
— Diversity of religions gives dignity and strength to the religious sentiment — 
Character of Christianity — Catholicism in the United States — Influence of the 
democratic principle on religious observances ..... 429 

CHAPTER XVII. 

EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Mutual relations of education and religion — Touching example of the devotion of the 
early emigrants in the cause of public instruction — Lavi^ relative to public instruc- 
tion in New England — Existence of the same laws in the Western States — System 
followed in Ohio : in New York — Condition of education in the United States in 
1840 — Sunday schools — Public course of lectures for young mechanics of various 
trades — Inclination for intellectual pleasures found in every class of society — Mean 
level in American society — In the United States, no special schools for instruc- 
tion in political economy and mercantile affairs — Society considered the best 
school — Democracy favorable to the development of knowledge . . 435 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

AGRICULTURE. 

The Americans principally agriculturists — Admirable quality of the soil of the 
United States — The American character favorable to the development of agricul- 
ture — Dangers which beset their speculative character . . . . 450 

CHAPTER XIX. 

COMMERCE. 

With the American, the genius for business allied to an ambitious character — The 
American peculiarly a business man — His attention absorbed in his personal 
welfare — Character of American merchants — Influence of democracy — Commu- 
nity of national interest among the American people .... 453 

CHAPTER XX. 

MANUFACTURES. 

England strives to prevent the introduction of manufactures into the colonies of 
New England — Their progress despite opposition — Manufacture of hats — Linen 
and woolen fabrics — Forges — Massachusetts legislates in favor of manufactures — 
Introduction of the first cotton-spinning machine-»-Arrival of celebrated manu- 
facturers from England and France — Samuel Slaters — Dupont de Nemours — Law 
proposed by Alexander Hamilton in favor of manufactures adopted by Con- 
gress in 1789 — Fresh impulse given to manufactures by the War of 1812 — Pro- 
tective system adopted by Congress and maintained until 1832 — Introduction of 
the compromise law — Commercial crisis-rDelicit in the revenues of the United 
States — New tariff-— Present importance of manufactures ... 46 



CONTENTS. xvii 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Working Classes in the United States 470 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Conclusion 482 



INTEODUCTION. 



The progress of science applied to arts and manufactures has 
wrought a thorough change in the condition of every country. 
Everywhere we witness the manifestation of new ideas and new 
tendencies, whose influence, felt in all ranks of life, affects our 
habits, transforms our manners, changes our tastes, and even in- 
sinuates itself into all the details of private life. 

In view of this state of things, how can we explain the diverg- 
ence so obstinately maintained between a government and its 
people? Does the former wish ever to forget that it is only a 
moderator and guide of mankind? Do not the latter, in provoking 
an expansion of the social forces, advance with too much pre- 
cipitation towards the accomplishment of a revolution hereafter 
necessary? 

Nevertheless, obstinate resistance will always be more danger- 
ous than too hasty progression. In going too fast, we run the 
risk of losing our way. But ideas are imperishable. When a 
torrent is swelling before us, it is folly to attempt to check its 
progress by decayed dikes. We should rather seek to open for it 
a wide passage, and thus to transform its transitory overflow into 
a fertile inundation. 

Nations can no longer remain strangers one to another. A 
new and powerful element of civilization has appeared to place 
them in permanent contact. Steam overcomes distances with 
the same facility that ideas traverse lines of frontier, and fly over 
the walls of a rampart. In a few days we pass from one conti- 
nent to another ; and when every sea shall be regularly furrowed, 
and Europe shall be covered with railroads, intercourse of people 
with people will become far more frequent than at present, because 
a voyage will then, by its cost and duration, be no longer beyond 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

the reach of those who are not blessed with fortune. Every class 
of society will profit by these increased facilities ; and then will 
the overflowing tide of population in one country be discharged 
into another where the means of existence are to be found in 
greater abundance. 

Everything, therefore, tends to impel the various people of the 
earth in one direction ; and the epoch of national isolation is 
passed, never to return. 

Independent nations no longer recognize prohibitive systems. 
For the future, these systems will sanction only the conflict be- 
tween individual interests and general interests. 

Experience has demonstrated that one of the effects of this pro- 
hibitive policy is to make us overlook and violate the simplest 
laws of political economy ; for it has led to the encouragement of 
ephemeral manufactures in defiance of the natural conditions of 
their existence, and, by the abusive employment of the artificial 
elements of power, has given to these manufactures so great a 
development that all due relation between consumption and sup- 
ply is utterly destroyed. 

As a result of this prohibition, popidations are confined at home. 
Thus deprived, on their own soil, of the means of seeking a fo- 
reign market for their products, the amount of their exports is ex- 
ceedingly limited. In fine, the prosperity of all is compromised 
in the highest degree ; and it is here especially that distress and 
poverty are in reality the offspring of abundance. 

Such is the inevitable effect of all such exclusive laws — laws 
which, in the end, are favorable only to the wealthiest, the ablest, 
and the most fortunate of mankind. 

This state of misery, a direct result of the prohibitive system, 
evidently impels society towards other destinies, and the people, 
perhaps excited by an antagonism augmenting from day to day 
in intensity, will be drawn into a tremendous struggle as decisive 
as it will be terrible; for it will be a struggle for existence itself, 
and not for the maintenance of a principle of honor, or for the 
satisfaction of national ambition. 

Such are the apprehensions which now occupy the mind, in 
view of the phenomena now exhibited by the social organization 
of every people. The future we have delineated is undoubtedly 
frightful ; for it menaces that general peace for the maintenance 
of which so many noble interests have already been sacrificed. 
But, to be serious, this peril is not unavoidable, especially if 



INTRODUCTION. xxi 

rulers, becoming more enlightened relative to their real interest, 
shall seek to identify themselves with the great movement which 
the diffusion of knowledge has created among every people! 

To keep pace with these ideas and new necessities would be 
an act of wisdom, and tend to preserve society in a normal state. 
The people should be taught to harmonize their interests, even 
when they appear to be conflicting, rather than to persevere in 
restrictive measures, which can only hasten the day of the struggle 
between nations and their rulers. 

But the question of international relations is so intimately allied 
with that of democracy that it will sooner or later be naturally 
settled by the triumph of this great cause of the people, which is 
every day gaining additional adherents. 

When, in the course of human progress, the people shall govern 
themselves, national distinctions will lose their wonted influence ; 
for the people will then consider themselves as members of the 
great human family, which ought to be united by the closest 
bonds through the desire, common to each individual, of personal 
liberty and physical welfare. They will learn that, if Providence 
has bestowed on each portion of the globe peculiar resources, the 
common interest of mankind requires that these advantages should 
become productive through reciprocal exchanges ; and that these 
exchanges will be better understood, and will be the more briskly 
effected, in proportion as they are encouraged by a liberal policy. 

In the present state of affairs, nations exhaust themselves in 
efforts w^hich benefit only a few individuals. The masses are 
becoming impoverished. Everywhere commerce is suffering. No- 
where is it based on the principles of an enlarged reciprocity. 
A nation which holds the empire of the seas may thereby acquire 
preponderance, and impose its will upon other nations. Thus, 
while a plethora engorges all the channels of industrial life, the 
British nation, to escape its terrible effects, condemns other 
nations to consume only its own products. But if this monopoly, 
which it wishes to exercise by force, and at any cost, has become 
the supreme condition of its existence, the temerity of pretending 
to impose it on all mankind is no less culpable than unexampled. 

But, on the other side of the Atlantic, a nation is now rising, 
which, though of the same race, and moved by the same ambition, 
is in every respect better adapted to become one of the greatest 
powers among the commercial nations of the world. Day by day 



xxii INTRODUCTION. 

it is advancing farther and farther into the lists, and already 
menaces with disastrous competition the former queen of the seas, 
its only rival. But yesterday the American nation was a people 
of consumers; to-day it reveals its power and its just pretensions 
to lavish on the other nations of the world its immense natural 
(Wealth, and the marvelous products of its industry. Why should 
' it not covet the rich inheritance of Great Britain, of which it will 
one day be able to dispossess it ? 

To consummate these ambitious views, it pursues a course 
entirely the opposite of that which has so well served the interests 
of England. The ascending movement of the one has been 
occasioned by the energy of its compact aristocracy. The supre- 
macy of the ocean will be obtained by the other through the force 
of democratic principles. On the banner of the one is inscribed 
the motto, Dieu et mon droit ; on that of the other will be inscribed 
the freedom, of the seas, thus recognizing that grand and salutary 
principle, that the fiag of a vessel protects its merchandise. This 
sacred principle will powerfully contribute to the reconstruction 
of the social edifice. 

In its defence, the American nation will rely not only on its 
navy, but on its ambition and its commercial interests. Its 
strength lies in the sovereignty of the people. To this, in fact, 
it owes its origin and its unexampled prosperity. Founded, 
principally, on the love of liberty, on patriotism, on the attach- 
ment of the citizen to the constitution of his choice, the Union 
presents the imposing spectacle of a com.pact nation provided 
with all the elements of strength and durability. Its citizens, 
happy under the empire of their institutions, would only lose by 
modifying them ; and they will not risk the experiment — for they 
would thus compromise the future, of which their present pros- 
perity is the most solid guarantee.* 

A faithful picture of the social condition of the Americans will 
always be a vast subject for study. The great lessons it contains 
seem to me to derive increased vahie from the state of affairs at 
the present time, when the people of every nation are directing 

* The present financial and commercial crisis {-January, 1843) is due to 
circumstances of a purely transient nature, and are not calculated to influ- 
ence the deductions of the philosopher or statistician. 



INTRODUCTION, xxiii 

their efforts towards the consummation of the same object, and 
are constantly seeking to realize the principle of political equality. 

American democracy is certainly destined to sustain, at some 
period, a struggle in which other maritime nations will be in- 
volved. Thence will arise specific interests and new conditions, 
which it will be difficult to appreciate, but worthy of the reflec- 
tions of those who are interested in the progress of civilization. I 
cherish the hope that my work, by the positive nature of its ele- 
ments, will furnish a solid basis for the deductions of the states- 
man. 

I do not seek to disguise the difficulty of such a task. In this 
industrial history of the American people, I have felt the neces- 
sity of sustaining my efforts by associating with my recollections 
the sentiment of a pious duty; and I have seized with eagerness 
the present opportunity of giving an accurate knowledge of those 
works, at present so renowned, conceived and executed by our 
countrymen.* 

I have divided my work into two parts. In the first, I have 
traced the origin, the institutions, and especially the political 
tendencies of the Americans. In the second, I have shown their 
military resources, and have exhibited the development of their 
agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. 

In this work, the reader will find positive information mixed 
with a multitude of personal observations, relative to a people 
with whom I have lived, whose progress I have followed, and in 
whose welfare I feel interested as deeply as though I had been 
born among them. I have exercised my utmost care to avoid en- 
tering into speculations; and in view of so vast and so prolific a 
subject, this was a matter of no small difficulty. 

I have thought it would be difficult for the reader to appreciate 
the national character of the Americans without exhibiting their 
early history. The political or industrial character of a nation 
depends as much on its origin as on the circumstances in which 
Providence has placed it. In my opinion, therefore, it seemed 
indispensable to reproduce the principal traits in the character of 
the early American settlers. 

In going back to the period when their early establishments 

* The American nation has expended more than two hundred million 
dollars in works designed for national defence. 



xxiv INTRODUCTION. 

were formed, I have been led to examine the important question 
involved in the influence of the various systems of colonization 
pursued by Europeans on their arrival in the New World. My 
researches were directed to the discovery of the earliest settle- 
ments in America, of which history has preserved authentic 
traces. A thoroughly French sentiment has keenly animated me 
in this department of my labor — a labor in which I have sought 
to exhibit the part my country acted in those struggles which took 
place on the waters and on the soil of the New World, and the 
dignity and courage with which she sustained the honor of the 
French name. 

In my undertaking, I have been aided by the works of all the 
authors coteraporaneous with the various periods alluded to in my 
history. With these works, our libraries at Paris are richly sup- 
plied. 

I have also consulted the archives of the navy and of the colo- 
nies, the portfolios, manuscripts, and charts of which have been 
kindly placed at my disposal by the honorable head of that de- 
partment. 

I have consulted with profit various American periodicals,* 
which afforded me the means of comparing excellent statistical 
documents with those furnished me either by the kindness of the 
minister of the United States at Paris, or by my old friend Robert 
Walsh, one of the most distinguished of American publicists. 

To all who have been so kind as to take an interest in my labors, 
I return my very sincere thanks. 

* " North American Review" — " Hunt's Merchant's Magazine." 



AMERICAN POWER. 



PAET I. 

ORIGIN— INSTITUTIONS— POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS OP THE DISCOVERIES, PRIMARY ESTABLISHMENTS, 
AND OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF COLONIZATION PURSUED IN AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I, 

1000—1529. 



DISCOVERIES AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE SCANDINAVIANS, 
SPANISH, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH. 

Scandinavian colony — Christopher Columbus — The Normans, Rochellese, and Diep- 
pese — Americus Vespucius — Gaspard Cortereal — Peter de Guy — Jolin Davis of 
Harfleur — Thomas Aubert of Dieppe — John Ponce de Leon — Baron de Lery — 
Vasqnez de Ayllon — Verazani — Pamphihus de Narvaez. 

The name of Christopher Columbus must for ever be identified 
with the discovery of America. The rights of this illustrious 
navigator to the glory attached to one of the most remarkable 
events in the history of the world are as sacred as they are 
well-founded. In truth, there is nothing fabulous, equivocal, or 
doubtful in the recital of these facts, which reveal a boldness of 
thought, a power of genius, a pertinacity and perseverance in this 
celebrated navigator almost superhuman. To solve the great 
question of the formation of the globe, which then agitated all 
minds, it required no less than the combination, in a single man, 
of these great qualities, impelled by an extreme religious faith : 
Christopher Columbus possessed them all! 

Honor, then, in our name, and in that of all future generations, 
to the memory of Columbus, the immortal benefactor of humanity ! 
3 



/^ 



34 AMERICAN POWER. 

If, as a powerful genius, he has claims upon our veneration, 
he has still more upon our gratitude, for having, by his discovery, 
and the moral influence which it was to exercise upon the desti- 
nies of the world, advanced the emancipation of society! 

My object being to record, in chronological order, all the facts 
relating to the discovery and colonization of North America, it 
shall of course be my task to point out the documents,* recently 
published by the able writers of the North, relative to that period 
of the Middle Ages which has for so long a time remained 
unknown. These documents, for which we arc indebted to an 
author as distinguished as he is erudite, prove, if not quite posi- 
tively, at least very plausibly, that America was discovered in 
the tenth or eleventh century by Scandinavian navigators, and 
that at that period a continuous intercourse was kept up between 
the eastern coast of America and Scandinavia. 

It is, however, but justice to state, that the passage of these 
colonies, upon this portion of the New World, has left such faint 
traces, that they would scarcely be found again or verified; and 
the proofs presented in support of the visit of these Scandinavian 
navigators to the shores of Massachusetts and Rhode Island ap- 
pear at least very vague. 

Some English writers have also maintained that Madoc, a 
Welsh prince, was driven upon the coast of Florida about the 
year 1171, and there established a colony; but this has never 
been proved. 

Christopher Columbus had long meditated upon the shape of 
the earth, and had frequently consulted the writings of Marco 
Polo and of John Mandeville, who, in the thirteenth century, had 
visited Asia far beyond the limit given to it by Ptolemy, and had 
arrived at the conclusion that, by sailing in a westerly direction, 
he must, after a short run, reach the eastern extremity of the 
Continent of Asia, which he called India. He experienced the 
greatest difficulties in securing the adoption of his views and of his 
project. Fortunately, he found means, by the vigor of his mind 
and the enthusiasm of his convictions, to overcome the opposition 
against which he had to contend. He had conceived the idea of 
delivering the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the Infidels; and 

* Memoirs of the Discovery of America in the Tenth Century, by Charles 
Christian Rafn, or Antiquitates Americanse, sive Scriptores Septentrionales 
rerum ante Columbianarum in AmericS,. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 35 

to effect this pious object he intended to devote the riches he 
expected eventually to receive from his discoveries. This idea 
sustained him to the end of his life. 

After having settled the plan of his expedition, traced before- 
hand the course he was to pursue, and made the calculations 
upon which he based his theory, he at length put to sea on Friday, 
the 5th of August, 1492,* with three small vessels, the Santa 
Maria, commanded by himself; the Pinta, by Martin Alonzo 
Pinzon; the JVina, by Vincent Vanez Pinzon. Only one of these 
vessels, of about one hundred tons burden, had a deck. The 
other two were mere coasting vessels. The expedition numbered 
one hundred and twenty persons. Columbus reached the Cana- 
ries, and then steered a direct westerly course, without deviating 
from the line he had traced for himself; and, after a hazardous 
voyage of seventy days, the cry of "Land!" was heard, on the 12th 
of October following, from the vessel which he commanded in 
person. Columbus landed on one of the Bahama Islands, called 
by the Indians Guenahaud; by himself San Salvador, which name 
it still retains ; and by the English Cat Island. 

Columbus, following his all-engrossing thoughts, imagined him- 
self on one of the islands bordering the Continent of Asia; hence, 
he called the natives Indians — a designation applied to all the 
aborigines of the New Continent, 

Thus, as if by a miracle, was Columbus's theory of the con- 
formation of the globe happily solved — a theory due to his superior 
genius, which alone, by comprehending the necessary calculations, 
was able to develop it as a truth. And from that time the com- 
munication, that was to exert so great an influence upon man, 
between the Old and New World, and reduced in our day to an 
ordinary voyage often days, thanks to the discovery of those great 
geniuses, Watt and Fulton, has been for ever established. 

An immense result, incalculable in its consequences, which 
Christopher Columbus himself was far from foreseeing ! For, in the 
settled opinion which he had adopted as to the extent of Asia, 
he looked upon his discoveries as the continuation of the long 
chain of the Indies, and had no idea that he had discovered a 
New World. It was, then, by a great error in geography that 
Columbus Avas led to his magnificent discoveries. 

* AVashington Irving's Life of Columbus. 



36 AMERICAN POWER. 

His opinion was supported by all scientific men, and all the 
most celebrated navigators of those days; and, for a long time, 
influenced all subsequent expeditions. 

From San Salvador, Columbus examined the Lucayas Islands. 
On the 28th of October, he discovered the Island of Cuba, and 
on the 6th of December Hayti, whence, on the 4th of January, 
1493, he sailed on his return to Spain. 

The news of Columbus's discovery produced a wonderful effect 
upon every mind. All the rival powers of Europe were seized 
with a species of delirium, which goaded them to new adventures. 
Each was desirous of enlarging the area of his estates, of spread- 
ing abroad the Christian faith, and especially of enriching his 
treasury. Expeditions were everywhere preparing. 

England, always ready to take possession of new territories in 
order to extend its influence, entered with zeal into these projects 
of discovery. Columbus had applied to Henry the Seventh, but 
had not met with a favorable reception. The communication of 
his plans, however, had attracted the attention of some of the 
scientific men of that country to a conception so bold, and had 
induced a desire in their minds also to undertake some voyages 
of discovery. But England, at that period, was far from being 
celebrated for its navigation, and for the knowledge of its mariners. 
It had remained more than a century behind all other nations, 
who had exhibited, on the contrary, great activity and great zeal 
for commerce and maritime enterprises. 

English vessels and mariners had not vet ventured far from 
their own shores. Under these circumstances, they were com- 
pelled to have recourse to the navigators of foreign nations to 
accomplish their designs. Hence it was, that Sebastian Cabot, 
a Venetian adventurer, who resided in Bristol, obtained, in 1496, 
from Henry the Seventh, for himself and his three sons, the privilege 
of sailing under the English flag, in all directions, for the purpose 
of discovering lands unknown, or uninhabited by any Christian 
nation, and taking possession of them in the name of the King of 
England. This permission was granted on the 5th of March, 
1496, two years after the return of Columbus; but Cabot did not 
sail until two years afterwards. He sailed from Bristol on the 
4th of May, 1497, with his son, Sebastian, on board of a govern- 
ment vessel, having also under his orders a small flotilla, equipped 
by the merchants of Bristol. 



SEBASTIAN CABOT. 37 

Cabot had adopted the views of Columbus as to the conforma- 
tion of the globe. He undertook his voyage, expecting to find a 
north-west passage to India; and, to his great regret,* discovered 
land on the 28th of July, 1497, but did not go on shore at any point. 
He sailed in sight of the Islandof Newfoundland, which he named 
Prima Vista; his crew here caught a great quantity of fish ; among 
the rest, seals, salmon, soles, and hoccalaos (a species of codfish) 
or cahelien. He called this country Labrador, which afterwards 
received the name of Cabelien. He sailed as far north as fifty-six 
degrees, and then took a south-westerly course, in the vicinity of 
Florida, in about thirty-six degrees, in the hope of finding the 
long wished-for passage ; but, despairing of success, he deter- 
mined to return to England, where, to his great mortification, his 
voyage met with so little encouragement, that he formed the reso- 
lution of offering his services to the Catholic sovereigns, Ferdinand 
and Isabella.! 

But little is known concerning this voyage; the accounts of it 
are vague and incomplete. 

If we can place any reliance on the accounts of L'Escarbot,| 
who himself visited the coast of North America in 1606, the east- 
ern coast of this Continent must have already been known long 
before by the Normans and Basques, who were in the habit of 
going to Newfoundland, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the coast 
of Labrador, and to the north of the Island of Newfoundland for 
the purpose of fishing. He says, in fact, "that persons from 
Dieppe, Malouins, and Rochelle, and other French navigators, 
the most of them, at least, had for many centuries frequented the 
Grand Banks and the coast of Newfoundland." He also asserts 
that the names known, and the language spoken, upon that por- 
tion of the Continent, were half Basque ; a proof, according to him, 
that the Basques must have for a long time visited this coast. 

Some English and Danish navigators attempted, about this 

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 7. 

t S. Cabot — "Sailing," he says, "along the coast, in order, if possible, to 
find an opening which would penetrate it, I saw that the land still extended 
as far as the fifty-sixth degree of latitude ; and, perceiving that here the 
coast inclined towards the east, and despairing of finding a passage, I 
retraced my course, and sailed along this coast, steering towards the 
Equator. I reached that part of the Continent now known as Florida, 
when, my provisions getting short, I determined to return to England." 

t L'Escarbot, 207-209. 



38 AMERICAN POWER. 

period, to find a north-west passage to India, and by this means 
discovered some of the points on the eastern coast of North 
America, but without any other results. 

Besides, in these times of papal supremacy, since the last 
discoveries of Columbus in the name of the Spanish crown, the 
rights of Spain were considered to extend to all the lands and 
seas arising from them, because Pope Alexander the Sixth had, 
in his famous bull of the 2d of May, 1493, conceded the right of 
property to Ferdinand and Isabella, under the single condition of 
their introducing and disseminating the Catholic faith; after the 
same manner that Pope Nicholas the Fifth had, by his bull of 
1454, granted to the Kings of Portugal entire sovereignty over 
all the lands discovered by the Portuguese to the east of the 
Atlantic. The King of England, after the fruitless voyage of 
Cabot, entirely renounced sending new expeditions of discovery 
to the coast of America. 

Americus Vespucius, by an inexplicable usurpation, but of 
which many examples are to be found, gave his name to the 
discovery of Columbus, without having in the least contributed to 
it. This navigator, a great man, nevertheless, appears to have 
made important voyages to Brazil in 1501, and wrote some me- 
moirs, which remained a long time in manuscript, and upon the 
reputation of which he obtained the glory of the discovery of the 
two Americas. As far back as 1498 and 1499, Christopher 
Columbus* and Pinzon had discovered this country, and taken 
possession of it in the name of the Spanish crown; and, in 1500, 
Don Pedro Alvarez Cabral in the name of the crown of Portugal. 

Juan Vaz Costa Cortereal, a gentleman of the household of the 
Infant Don Fernando, accompanied by D'Alvaro Marteus Hornera, 
undertook, in 1463 and 1464, a voyage, and examined the northern 
seas, by order of Alphonso the Fifth, King of Portugal, He dis- 
covered the land of Boccalaos (a region for codfish), since known 
as Newfoundland. 

Gaspard Cortereal, his son, attempted to discover a north-west 
passage to India. In 1500, he visited the coast of Newfoundland, 
which he explored and described with care. One of these islands, 
near Cape Breton, bore his name, and was thus noted for a long 
time on the charts published in 1559. He discovered the Gulf 
and River St. Lawrence. 

* "Washington Irving. 



PONCE DE LEON. 39 

Under the reign of Louis the Twelfth, the French also endea- 
vored to discover a north-west passage to India — the object of all 
the voyages and naval expeditions of that period. They dis- 
covered Canada, frequented the Island of Newfoundland in 1504, 
and were the first to commence the cod fishery, of which other 
nations afterwards shared the profits and advantages. Peter de 
Guy, a nobleman of Montz, in one of his voyages, undertaken in 
1506, touched at Cadia or Acadia, since known as Nova Scotia, 
explored its coasts, and took possession of it in the name of the 
King of France. During the same year, Davis, of Harfleur, pub- 
lished a chart of the coast and vicinity of Newfoundland. Upon 
that chart all that was found south of the River St. Lawrence was 
called Jfew France; the northern portion is marked as terra 
incognita and lands of France. The following names are to be 
seen on the chart: Angouleme, a name given by Angoumoisin; 
Flora, Paradise, Port-Real, Port of Refuge, Cape Breton, and an 
island named Cape Breton. 

A certain Thomas Aubert, or Hubert, a pilot of Dieppe, and 
engaged in the cod fisheries near the Banks of Newfoundland, 
landed in Canada in 1508, and brought with him to France a 
native, who excited a great deal of curiosity. 

Since the first voyage of Columbus, many of his companions 
separately engaged in voyages of adventure, and sought treasures 
■with insatiable avidity — riches which the wily Indian promised 
his unwelcome visitor, in order to get rid of him. 

Ponce de Leon, a man of great ambition, who had accom- 
panied Columbus in his second voyage, in 1495, received with 
avidity and credulity one of those fabulous tales of the natives 
as to the existence of vast treasures, and especially of a certain 
spring, in one of the Bermuda Islands, to which they gave the 
name of Bimini, whose waters had the power of rejuvenating. 
He possessed a large fortune. He equipped three vessels at 
his own expense; and, on the 5th of March, 1512, he sailed 
from Porto Rico, of which he was governor,* and on Saturday, 
the 27th of March, he hove in sight of Florida, in latitude thirty 
degrees and eight minutes. In consequence of the weather, he 
was unable to land until the 2d of April. He gave the land the 
name of Florida, as much on account of the brilliant aspect pre- 

* Ilerrera. 



40 AMERICAN POWER. 

sented by the quantity of flowers which covered the country, as 
in honor of Palm Sunday, Pascua Jlorida, when he had first 
perceived them. Its name, in the Indian dialect, is Cautio. 

He visited the anchorages on that coast, landed at different 
points, had several engagements with the natives, doubled the 
outhern point of Florida, and explored the Tortugas Islands. 
He finally became wearied of his fruitless searches for gold-mines, 
and, above all, of the promised fountain, and determined to return 
to Porto Rico, leaving behind him, to finish his adventurous cruise, 
Juan Perez de Ortubia, who, by the by, was not more fortunate 
than himself. 

The only result of the romantic expedition of Ponce de Leon 
was that this chief grew somewhat older, and became impove- 
rished; though he added the important discovery of Florida to the 
list of those already made by the Spaniards. 

In 1517, Cortez discovered Mexico, and penetrated, in 1535, 
as far as California. 

The sole object of all the voyages undertaken, up to this time, 
by the navigators and adventurers of all nations, was either the 
discovery of a north-west passage or of some great treasure. No 
voyage had been undertaken for the purpose of forming colonies 
in the New World. That of Baron Lery de Saint Just, in 1518, 
under Francis the First, was the first undertaken with the avowed 
object of forming a colony. L'Escarbot, in speaking of this bold 
navigator, thus expresses himself: "His courage impelled him 
to great actions, and his great desire was to establish there a 
French colony." He landed cattle upon Sable Island to supply 
the colony; while Salem* states that they were only transported 
to the New World by the English, one hundred years later. Un- 
fortunately, this island was so unfavorable to the establishment of 
a permanent colony, that the emigrants whom Baron Lery had 
left there were compelled to abandon it for want of water. 

In 1520, the Spaniards, under Luc Vasquez de Ayllon, again 
visited Florida. This officer was at that time engaged in the 
slave trade, which he deemed essential to the success of the new 
possessions in the Antilles. He sailed from Hispaniola, examined 
the coast of Florida, and landed at the mouth of a river, that he 
named the Jordan {Chicora), which emptied into the sea near the 

* Vol. iii. p. 136. 



PAMPHILIUS DE NARVAEZ. 41 

point of St. Helena, and called by him Guadalpa. He made 
several excursions into the interior, with the hope of discovering 
the gold mines of which the Indians had spoken to him, but was 
not more fortunate than his predecessors. He, however, carried 
off several Indians, whom he brought as prisoners to St. Do- 
mingo, where they were sold as slaves, and sent to work in the 
mines. 

In 1521, Ponce de Leon made a second voyage to Florida, 
with two vessels equipped at his own expense. He was driven 
off with loss by the Indians, and, being himself wounded, died 
shortly after in the Island of Cuba. 

A second expedition was in the same year undertaken by 
Vasquez de Ayllon ; but he was not more fortunate than his pre- 
decessor. 

Francis the First again bent his mind upon establishing colo- 
nies in the New World. John Verazani, a Florentine, to whom 
he confided an expedition, made three successive voyages in the 
years 1523, 1524, and 1525, to the coast of America, and he 
named that part of the continent JVew France. He particularly 
explored that part of it contiguous to Spanish Florida, from the 
thirty-second to the forty-seventh degree of north latitude, and 
planted settlements at its most southern extremity. He died 
during his third voyage, at a time when he expected to make 
these establishments permanent. 

The Spanish navigator, Pamphilius de Narvaez, in the name 
of his sovereign, Charles the Fifth, made, in 1527, a voyage to 
Florida. He landed near the Bay of Tanepe. Like his pre- 
decessor, he came to find gold, but found nothing but sand and 
misery. 

After having penetrated far into the country, he lost nearly 
all his men, a portion of whom returned to the coast, probably at 
Pensacola, which Narvaez had named Santa Cruz, and perished 
in trying to reach Cuba in small boats. Another portion, not less 
intrepid, made the attempt to reach Mexico by land, and out of 
this number only four succeeded, after having endured inde- 
scribable fatigues and privations. They must have crossed the 
Mississippi, the Red River, Texas, and those immense marshes 
which form a border to the Gulf of Mexico. These four indi- 
viduals were Alvaro, Nunez de Cabeza, Vaca Dorantes, and a 
negro named Estavanaco. They crossed the interior of Florida 



42 AMERICAN POWER. 

as far as the port of Culiecan, in California, whence they were 
sent to Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico. 

Under Henry the Eighth, Robert Thome, of Bristol, in 1527, 
undertook a voyage of discovery to the north, but was unsuc- 
cessful. 

The English, in 1529, according to Hakluyt,* sent two vessels 
to the eastern coast of North America, and explored Newfound- 
land, Labrador, and Cape Breton, and the shores of a country 
which they named Arembec. But these were also failures. 

Hence it is proved, most incontestably, that the French sailed 
along the coast of North America at a very remote period, and 
greatly anterior to that when the English visited it. 

From Cabot's last voyage, undertaken in the name of Henry 
the Seventh, to the year 1529, the English sent no vessels to the 
coast of North America. Nevertheless, they have never ceased, 
since that period, to found, upon the discoveries of that navigator, 
their rights of sovereignty in America. 

Upon the same principle, and certainly with more reason, could 
the French claim possession of the coast and territories of Africa. 
As far back as the fourteenth century, and long before any other 
nation of Europe had known them, they had not only discovered 
them, but had traded with them, and had even made settlements 
there. t 

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 129. 

f Chronological History of the New World. The opinion to which we 
allude here, that the Noi-mans of Dieppe had first discovered Guinea, where, 
in 1365, they had made some settlements, has just been refuted by M. 
Santarem, in a conscientious and able work, recently published under the 
title of Researches into the Priority of the Discovery of Countries situated 
upon the West Coast of Africa beyond Cape Bojador, and upon the Progress 
of Geographical Science subsequent to the Voyages of the Portuguese in the 
Fifteenth Century. This distinguished man insists that he has proved that 
the priority of this discovery belongs to Portuguese navigators, and rests 
his arguments upon considerations, facts, and motives, which, upon this 
point, appear to us to be conclusive. 



DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH AND SPANIARDS. 43 



CHAPTER II. 

1530—1568. 

DISCOVERIES AND FIRST SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AND SPANIARDS. 

James Cartier — River St. Lawrence — Montreal — Fernando de Soto — Florida — Mis- 
sissippi — Luis Moscoso de Alvaredo — Pensacola — Mobile — Francis de la Roche, 
de Roberval, first governor of the French possessions in America — James Cartier 
founds Royal Isle — Tristan de Luna visits Florida — Schisms of the Anglican Church, 
of Calvin — Religious discussions — Reformers, Brow^nists, Puritans, Independents, 
Congregationalists — John Ribaut and Rene de Laudonniere, in Carolina, dis- 
cover Port Royal Bay ; make the first settlements there ; give French names to 
the rivers — Destruction of this colony by Pedro Menendez — Settlement of St. 
Augustine — Dominic de Gourges revenges himself upon the Spaniards. 

If the fanaticism and religious zeal of the fifteenth century led 
to the discovery of the New World, the religious struggles which 
marked the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have greatly con- 
tributed to people it with a race of choice men, equally distin- 
guished for their profound faith and their love of liberty. 

The commencement of the sixteenth century was marked by 
the heresy of Luther, by the reforms of John Calvin, and the 
foundation of the Society of Jesus by Ignatius Loyola. The 
object and tendency of this society were to oppose the progress 
of reform, at the head of which was Calvin. Loyola's followers 
planted their standard upon all points of the globe: in India, 
Thibet, Cochin China, China, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, California, in 
the plains of Paraguay, and in the glaciers and snows of Canada. 

From 1525 to 1534, the French made but fruitless efforts to 
colonize America. In this latter year, James Cartier, from 
St. Malo, made a first voyage of discovery towards the Island 
of Newfoundland, and, on the day of the Feast of St. Lawrence, 
entered the gulf and waters of a great river, to which he gave the 
name of St. Lawrence.* To the natives, inhabiting the inferior 

• * Charlevoix. 



44 AMERICAN POWER. 

part of this river, it was known as the Ouitabua, a Huron name; 
and to the Iroquois, who inhabited the superior part, as the 
Cadaraqui. Cartier, having determined to winter in these waters, 
built a fort on the banks of the river, took regular possession 
of the country in the name of Francis the First, made treaties 
with the Indians, and visited the principal establishment of the 
Hurons, situated on the Island of Ochelaga, which he named 
Montreal, in consequence of the splendid view from it, and of 
the appearance of richness which was unfolded to the beholder 
from the top of the hill which commands the centre of that 
island. 

No spectacle could more readily produce upon the mind of 
Cartier a favorable impression than the nature and resources 
of the country, which were developed beneath his eyes, in an 
immense horizon, bisected by the majestic river whose waters 
mingle with the ocean a hundred miles off to the north. 

After having thus become intimately acquainted with the prin- 
cipal entrance to this new country, visited the great lakes, and 
made treaties with the peaceful inhabitants of these shores, he 
left a garrison at the post which he had established below Quebec, 
and returned to France, where, by an unpardonable inconsist- 
ency, the object of this important undertaking appears, for a time 
at least, to have been forgotten. 

According to Hakluyt,* a number of individuals from London 
equipped, in 1536, another armament, with the avowed intention 
of attempting again to make discoveries in North America; which 
proves, beyond a doubt, that this coast was then but little known 
to English navigators. This expedition, for want of provisions, 
was reduced to the last extremity, and, after having abandoned 
itself to excesses, which can find an excuse only in the im- 
perious and fatal law of necessity, fell in with a French vessel, 
bound on a fishing expedition to the great banks of Newfound- 
land, took forcible possession of it, pillaged it, and made use of 
it to return to England. Hore, from London, accompanied by 
one hundred and twenty persons belonging to the first class of 
society, was at the head of one of these enterprises. 

One of the most important voyages made, up to this time, by 
the Spaniards in Florida, was that undertaken, in 1539, by 

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 112. 



FOUNDATION OF ROYAL ISLAND. 45 

Fernando de Soto. The preparations for this expedition were 
considerable, both in men and money. He carried with him 
nine hundred infantry and three hundred cavalry. Soto had been 
the companion of Pizarro. He was consumed with a desire to 
distinguish himself, and especially to acquire new riches. He 
neglected nothing for the completion of all his preparations, that he 
might realize the great expectations he entertained concerning the 
discovery of the immense riches which that country was supposed 
to contain. He landed in Florida, at the Sancto Spiritu Bay in 
the Gulf of Mexico, advanced boldly into the interior with all his 
warriors, both cavalry and infantry, took a westerly direction, and 
penetrated to the territory of the Cherokees, seeking the gold- 
mines which, three centuries after, were worked to great advan- 
tage. He spent nearly four years with his troops, in Florida and 
Louisiana, in search of riches which he was not destined to 
discover. He also explored the White River and the Washita, 
and finally died, on the borders of the Mississippi, on the 21st of 
May, 1542. 

Luis Moscoso de Alvaredo then took command of his troop, 
reduced, from fights, fatigues, and mortality, to less than one-half 
of its original number. They built a boat on the shores of the 
river, descended it, and reached Panuco, in New Mexico, after 
running for fifteen days along the coast. 

It was during the adventurous expedition of De Soto, that the 
Spaniards discovered Pensacola, called by the natives Anchen^ or 
Anchuse; and Mobile, named Movilla, from the name of the tribe 
living there at the time. 

In 1540, the French became more active in colonizing their 
American possessions, and attached more importance to their 
establishments. During this year, Francis the First appointed 
Francis de la Roche lieutenant-general of his new territories in 
Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, and other places, and authorized 
him to settle the lands and countries above designated, build forts, 
and take families there. 

From 1541 to 1542, James Cartier, appointed captain-general 
of five discovery ships, arrived at Cape Breton (Royal Island), 
fortified himself, and formed a first settlement there. He then 
pushed his exploration, up the St. Lawrence, to a distance of two 
hundred miles beyond its mouth, where he founded a French 
colony, which, at a later period, received the protection of the 



46 AMERICAN POWER. 

Marquis of Roberval, under Charles the Ninth. But the severity 
of the climate checked the success of these first establishments; 
and France again forgot the importance it should have attached 
to the colonization of America. 

In 1549, the Spaniards attempted a new expedition to Florida, 
under the direction of Peter Assumada, Julius Samare, and five 
Dominican monks, who marched in front with great crosses, sup- 
posing by that means to make an impression upon the Indians. 
Nevertheless, this did not protect them from being assassinated 
and burnt by the natives. Don Tristan de Luna, who was at- 
tached to this expedition, again visited Pensacola, and named it 
the Bay of St. Mary. 

But differences in religious opinion soon began to disturb 
French society. Under the cloak of religion, horrible cruelties 
had been committed by the troops of the king upon Huguenot 
cities. In England, Henry the Eighth had constituted himself 
head of the Anglican Church, and thus occasioned a schism. But 
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, entirely changed the 
religion of the kingdom, and established heresy in its place. 
Calvinism in France found a powerful protector in Margaret de 
Valois, Queen of Navarre, which caused this sect to increase with 
rapid strides; while in England, again. Queen Mary, daughter of 
Catharine of Aragon, and elder sister of Edward, whom she suc- 
ceeded to the throne in 1553, re-established the Catholic religion. 
This circumstance led, in 1554, to the persecution of the Pro- 
testants, who sought refuge upon the Continent. A great number 
retired to Geneva, where, under the ministry of Calvin, they 
formed a community. 

Upon the accession of Elizabeth, who succeeded her sister 
Mary in 1558. Protestantism assumed the ascendency. The 
Huguenot refugees then returned to England, in consequence of 
the deep-rooted prejudices which they entertained against the 
church that had persecuted them. But they did not find in 
Elizabeth that protection which they had imagined she would 
extend to them, and, as for the rest, were unsuccessful in chang- 
ing the forms of the church. 

The spirit of reform continued to gain proselytes, who were, 
nevertheless, obliged quietly to submit to the stronger power — 
the union of church and state. 

Among the reformers of this period, who were desirous of in- 



ORIGIN OF THE BROWNISTS. 47 

troducing modifications in the doctrines and discipline of the 
church, a great number selected a Mr. Brown as their chief, who 
reduced to systematic form all the changes which his co-reli- 
gionists particularly insisted upon, and thus gave birth to the sect 
since known as Broionists, commonly called Puritans, From this 
sect of reformers sprang that known as Independents or Congre- 
gationalists . 

Brown strove to prove the corrupt state of the Anglican Church ; 
that its ministers were illegally appointed ; that its ordinances, 
rules, and precepts were not in conformity with the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and consequently without force. He insisted that every 
community of Christians had a right to assemble and worship God 
according to its own doctrines, that it constituted, in fact, a com- 
munion, or church, with powers to regulate its own affairs, for 
which they w^ere answerable to God alone; in short, that, in 
matters of faith and religion, churches ought to be governed by 
the majority. These doctrines of the new reformers were, in fact, 
so completely democratic, that they excited the hatred of the civil 
and ecclesiastical authorities of England. 

But what is most remarkable is that the chief of this church 
reform was gained over to the orthodox party. Brown entered 
into the communion of the church. Notwithstanding the deser- 
tion of their chief, the reformers steadfastly maintained their doc- 
trines, and saw their numbers sensibly increase, and exercise, in 
the end, a powerful influence. 

Thus, alongside of the Established Church, much more powerful 
from its political influence than from its action upon the hearts 
of men, we have daily seen, since that period, new churches 
arise, which, created from pure conviction and examination, have 
combated the dogmas of Anglicanism, and reproached the church 
for her inconsistencies. Beside those temples erected at public 
expense, were daily seen new chapels raised by voluntary sub- 
scriptions. Beside priests living by their devotion to, or upon the 
property of, the church, other priests preached a new faith, and 
the good will of their adherents soon assured their prosperity. 
Hence, even by the effect of the Protestant principle, the Anglican 
religion was losing ground. 

Such was the origin of those numerous emigrations, which 
we shall see hereafter reap the inheritance of liberty that the 



48 AMERICAN POWER. 

genius of Columbus had conquered for future generations, by 
bequeathing to them a New World to fertilize. 

The year 1559 was marked by the beginning of religious 
troubles in France. Henry the Second issued, at Ecouen, his 
terrible edict of June, which punished with death all Lutherans. 
Under Francis the Second, the religious quarrels assumed a still 
graver aspect, and, finally, served as a pretext, in 1560, for the 
famous conjuration of Amboise. 

Towards the commencement of the reign of Charles the Ninth, 
these troubles became in a degree quieted. A sort of tranquillity, 
the precursor of much greater troubles, appeared to reign for a 
short period, consequent upon the intervention of Admiral Coligny. 
The Huguenots became less uneasy. By a royal edict they were 
permitted the free exercise of their religion — the first which had 
been issued in their favor. 

Admiral Coligny had long desired to establish a place of refuge 
for the Huguenots. He applied himself assiduously to the reali- 
zation of his project, by seeking to found a Protestant empire in 
America. To effect this object, he organized an expedition of 
discovery, under John Ribaut of Dieppe, and Rene de Laudonniere. 
This expedition, in 1552, arrived upon the coast of Florida — the 
same that had been explored by Verazani in 1523 — and landed 
a little to the north of the Spanish possessions, at the mouth 
of the River St. John, which he named May River, having 
discovered it on the first day of that month. The French navi- 
gators extended their researches along the whole coast, as far as 
Cape Virginia, by sailing towards the north-east, and exploring 
the entrance of a deep bay, which they called Port Royal; and, 
after having assured themselves of the advantages which this part 
of the country presented for the establishment of a colony, they 
took possession of it in the name of their sovereign, in honor of 
whom they gave it the name of Carolina, which it still bears. 

An establishment was at length formed at the mouth of the St. 
John, under the name of Fort St. Charles, and placed under the 
command of Rene de Laudonniere. 

Florida was at that period well known by the Spaniards, who 
had there made numerous excursions, as we have just seen. They 
had even established several posts upon points of the coast in the 
gulf where their expeditions had landed. 

Thus, the excellent harbor of St. Joseph, where the water is 



RIBAUT AND DE LAUDONNIERE. 49 

twenty-two feet in depth over the bar — and which is now settled 
so advantageously by the Americans, that they export from it 
nearly one hundred and ten thousand bales of cotton annually — 
was highly valued by the Spaniards, even at that remote period, 
because of its good anchorage. 

In fact, the Spaniards, having been the first to discover Florida, 
and to traverse its territory, as well as the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi, were in the habit of considering this possession as a de- 
pendency of New Mexico, which they had previously discovered 
and settled themselves. 

As for the English, they had not yet a single settlement upon 
the American Continent. Their vessels, however, sometimes 
visited these shores for the purpose of trading with the natives. 
They had thus occasion, in 1563, to carry relief to the French 
settlers in Carolina; and, desirous of making this country known 
to their sovereign. Queen Elizabeth, they took on board some of 
these settlers, in proof of the advantageous relations they might 
obtain over it. 

In 1564, John Ribaut built a second fort in Carolina, and named 
it Fort Charles; and Rene de Laudonniere, in his second voyage, 
erected another fort at the mouth of the river Ilitanachi, also called 
Saint Esprit, the command of which he gave to Captain Albert. 
It would seem that this was the foundation of the present city of 
Charleston, situated at the mouths of Cooper and Ashley Rivers; 
whence it follows that this post, situated on one of the best 
anchorages on that portion of the southern coast of North America, 
was occupied one hundred years before the English had founded 
a single establishment upon the continent! 

John Ribaut returned to France. He again visited the Carolina 
colony in 1565, and relieved De Laudonniere in his command. 

The emigrants, who settled in Carolina, were, for the most part, 
Calvinists. They imparted to the rivers that watered these fertile 
countries French names, which, reminding them of France, thus 
seemed, while they increased their attachment to the land of their 
adoption, to mentally carry them back to that of their birth. 
They thus merged in the one feeling their regrets for having been 
compelled to fly in consequence of their religious opinions, and 
their gratitude to the soil which enabled them to live free. 

The colony of Carolina extends from the River St. John, whose 
promontory was called French Cape, to the thirty-third degree 
4 



50 AMERICAN POWER. 

of latitude; and the rivers emptying into the sea along that coast 
were, beginning at French Cape, the Dauphin, the Seine, the 
Sorame, the Loire, the Charente, and the Gironde. 

Unfortunately for this colony, and for the permanence of its 
settlements, France again found itself torn by civil dissensions, 
and divided by absurd quarrels about theology. The settlers of 
Carolina were forgotten, and they were left to resist alone the 
jealousy of the English and the Spaniards. The former saw with 
pain the settlement of the French upon the American Continent — 
the object of their desires and cupidity; while the second, their 
neighbors and rivals, under a religious pretext, fell suddenly upon 
the weak settlements of the French, and, in the name of faith, 
committed upon these isolated and defenceless inhabitants the 
most cruel excesses. 

This expedition of freebooters took place on the 20th of Sep- 
tember, 1565, under the orders of one Don Pedro Menendez de 
Avilez. He landed on the coast of Florida on the 8th of Septem- 
ber, the day of the Feast of St. Augustine, whose name he gave 
to the fort which he founded with great solemnity, proclaiming 
Philip the Second sovereign of North America! The city of 
St. Augustine must, therefore, be forty years older than any other 
city founded by Europeans in the United States. 

Thus was the French colony of Carolina, in its infant state, 
destroyed, by an attack as cowardly as it was detestable for 
its barbarity. It was founded at a period, when, in consequence 
of discoveries and settlements to the north and south, made ante- 
rior to those of the English, France might have claimed and 
extended its sovereignty over the whole of the new continent. 

This cowardly attack remained unnoticed, on the part of the 
ministers of Charles the Ninth. But a humble citizen. Captain 
Dominic de Gourgues, of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes), took upon 
himself to revenge his fellow-countrymen, by inflicting upon the 
Spaniards the same acts of cruelty. 

This devoted warrior, moved by a remark'able feeling of patriot- 
ism and intrepidity, obtained loans, and sold his property, to equip 
three vessels, manned with one hundred and fifty soldiers and 
eighty seamen, with provisions for one year. The expedition 
sailed from Bordeaux on the 2d of August, 1567. 

De Gourgues was completely successful in his attack upon the 
forts occupied by the Spaniards. The garrisons were all put to 



DOMINIC DE GOURGUES. 51 

the sword, and the small number that were taken alive were hung 
to the same trees on which, three years before, they had hung the 
French. 

De Gourgues, not having a sufficient force to garrison the forts, 
and establish himself in a country where the Spaniards might 
easily bring troops much more numerous than his own, employed 
the Indians to destroy the entrenchments, and then, on the 8th of 
May, 1568, sailed for France. 

From that period till the end of the century, very little was 
thought about America. Our unfortunate country was convulsed 
by the wars of religion during the reigns of Charles the Ninth and 
Henry the Third; and in 1572, the horrible outrage of a king 
upon the people of his capital was enacted — an outrage likely to 
be more than once repeated before the slow but durable education 
of the people will be consummated. 



52 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER III. 

1570—1608. 

DISCOVERIES AND COLONIZATION OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, engaged in creating a navy — Martin Frobisher — 
Letters patent granted to Humphrey Gilbert for the discovery of unknown lands ; 
he perishes on his voyage — New letters granted to Sir Henry Gilbert ; his fruitless 
voyage — John Davis — New letters granted to Sir Walter Raleigh — Discovery 
of Virginia — Sir Richard Greenville at the Island of Roanoke; he leaves settlers 
there; they perish — Hariot; introduction of tobacco into Europe; abandonment 
of the colonization of Virginia — Chaton and Noel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence — 
Ravillon commences a sealing voyage — Marquis de la Roche appointed Lieute- 
nant-General of the French Possessions in America; he leaves settlers on Sable 
Island — Mr. Chauvin founds Tadoussac — Captain Grosnold — Captain Champlain 
— Commandant de Chatte — Martin Pring visits the coast of Maine — Messieurs 
de Montz, Champlain, de Pautrincourt, and Pontgrave — Establishment of Port 
Royal (Annapolis) —Establishments upon the St. Croix River — Captain Cham- 
plain on the coast of New England — George Weymouth — Second voyage of Sieur 
de Pautrincourt; he is accompanied by L'Escarbot — James the First, King of 
England, concedes to his subjects all that part of America bearing the name of 
Southern and Northern Virginia — A company from Plymouth seeks to settle in 
Northern Virginia — Second expedition under the orders of Raleigh Gilbert; it 
visits the shores of the Kennebec — Captain Newport and the celebrated author, 
John Smith, settle Southern Virginia, and found establishments upon James 
River, which flows into Chesapeake Bay — Firm administration of this new 
colony — Conclusion. 

England did not, for more than sixty years after the fruitless 
efforts of Cabot, recall her attention to America; and the honor 
of having there founded, in a measure, the first establishments, 
was reserved for Queen Elizabeth — famous for her activity, her 
skill, and especially for her spirit of enterprise. 

The kingdom was quiet during nearly the whole of her happy 
reign. Commerce took a great start, and prospered. Navigation 
was studied as a science ; perfected, and rendered more practical 
as an art. The mechanic arts acquired a remarkable degree of 
improvement. In short, it was resolved to create a navy and 



SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 63 

sailors, and eventually voyages of discovery were greatly mul- 
tiplied. 

One of the first was undertaken in 1576, by one Martin Fro- 
bisher, with the object of discovering a north-west passage to the 
East Indies. This voyage produced no result. 

The same adventurer made a second voyage in 1577, as much 
with the view of discovering a passage to India, as in the hope 
of finding gold mines. The avarice and cupidity of those times 
were such that hundreds of volunteers presented themselves, and 
ofifered to accompany him in his adventurous researches. Nor 
was this second voyage more fortunate than the first. He encoun- 
tered icebergs, islands of sand, and saw nothing but iron-bound 
coasts, upon which he encountered great danger, without realizing 
any useful result. He undertook a third voyage in 1578. 

In 1578, Queen Elizabeth granted letters patent to Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, under the protection of the Earl of Warwick, for 
the discovery of unknown lands. These letters stated that 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert* was authorized to discover, and take 
possession of, lands unknown, or inhabited by savage nations, 
but unoccupied by Christian nations; that he had plenary rights 
and powers over the country that he should take possession of. 
Besides, it was stated that subjects of Great Britain might settle 
in the colonies established by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was to 
enjoy the rights of property over all the lands, on condition of 
paying to the crown of England a rent of one-fifth of the 
proceeds of all the gold or silver mines he might discover, and 
of rendering homage to the supremacy of his sovereign. Under 
these titles and clauses, Sir Humphrey and his heirs were to enjoy 
the right of establishing and governing these colonies according 
to their good pleasure. 

Sir Humphrey, however, was unable to commence the enter- 
prise which he had so much at heart, until five years after these 
letters patent had been granted him. Having at length' succeeded 
in forming a pretty considerable expedition, he sailed for the coast 
of America, for the purpose of planting a colony to the north of 
Florida. He landed upon the Island of Newfoundland, where, 
according to Hakluyt,f the natives presented him with samples 
of minerals, which he postponed testing, in the fear of exciting 

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. pp. 143, 1G5. f Ibid., p. 1G5. 



54 AMERICAN POWER. 

Ilic al((Mition of tho French, already settled on those shores, and 
by that means exposing to them the resources they possessed. 

Sir Humphrey (iilbert was not fortunate in his attempts to 
establish himself in America. He perished in a gale off Cape 
Breton, and the remainder of his expedition returned to England. 
Hence, Sir Humphrey's expedition, while it gained nothing for 
England, confirmed the existence of the French settlements in 
tliose harbors. 

Sir Adrien Gilbert, younger brother of Sir Humphrey, also 
provided with royal letters patent to seek a north-west passage 
to China anil the Moluccas, and to establish himself on unknown 
lands, in 15S3 sailed in the same direction taken by his brother, 
but with the same unsuccessful result. He had five vessels, of 
diflerent sizes, and two hundred and sixty men. 

In 1585, John Davis, with a view to the improvement of Eng- 
lish commerce, made a voyage to the coast of America, in order 
to discover a north-west passage, and by that means shorten the 
route to India. He sailed with three small vessels. The first 
land he saw was an island near the southern extremity of Green- 
land, to which he gave the name of Desolation. He then crossed 
the strait which bears his name, sailed as far north as the sixty- 
sixth degree of latitude, and at the approach of winter returned 
to England. 

The following year he again sailed with a much more con- 
siderable force, visited the coast at the sixtieth degree of latitude, 
and then sailed to the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude, and 
discovered an excellent harbor, at which he anchored. He also 
discovered Cumberland Straits. The season being far advanced, 
he again returned to England. 

Sir Walter Raleigh had not accompanied his parent, Sir Hum- 
phrey. He was not discouraged by his death; but, on the 
contrary, exhibited a still greater desire to form settlements in 
America. He begged, and obtained new letters patent from the 
queen, the terms of which were more liberal than those previously 
accorded. These granted, for example, the right of British 
citizenship to all who would join Sir Walter Raleigh in the founda- 
tion of his colony; and all other emigrants or travelers were pro- 
hibited from settling within two hundred miles of his colony, for 
the period of six years. 



SETTLEMENT OF ROANOKE ISLAND. 66 

These letters patent were issued in 1584.* During this year, 
he sent two vessels, under the command of Captains Philip 
Araades and Arthur Barlow, whom he instructed to examine the 
coasts and the country, and to satisfy themselves as to the facilities 
presented for the establishment of colonies. 

These captains made several discoveries to the south. They 
landed at Roanoke Island, in the thirty-sixth degree of north lati- 
tude, and so glowing and marvelous were their descriptions of the 
country, that it was named Virginia, in honor of the virgin queen 
Elizabeth. 

Sir Richard Greenville, one of the first associates of Sir Walter 
Raleigh, sailed, in 1585, with seven vessels. He anchored at 
Roanoke Island, where he left eight hundred settlers, who devoted 
more time to the discovery of mines than to the providing of 
means for their future support. They were soon reduced to such 
a state of misery, that Sir Francis Drake, who touched at that 
point in 158G, returning from a cruise on the coast of Carthagena, 
was forced to take them back to Europe. They arrived in Eng- 
land in 1587. 

A very short time after the departure of the colonists, Sir Walter 
Raleigh himself arrived at his colony, but found it deserted. 
Sir Richard Greenville made another voyage -to Virginia, left fifty 
emigrants, and founded a settlement at the northern point of 
Roanoke Island. Upon this spot Sir Walter Raleigh intended to 
found a city that should bear his name; but this has since 
been given, in honor of the founder of Virginia, to the capital of 
the State of North Carolina, within the limits of which Roanoke 
Island is situated. 

This island is almost a desert, being a sandy soil, unfit for 
agriculture. While there, in 1818, a few vestiges of the first 
establishments of Sir Richard Greenville and his companions still 
remained; but as for inhabitants, there were only a few hardy 
seamen, whose sole means of existence was to watch, night and 
day, for vessels that might be driven upon that coast — an occur- 
rence which, owing to the frequent and heavy gales off Cape Hat- 
teras, often takes place. But what I saw in their cabins, and in 
their smacks, led me strongly to suspect that these men were the 
original cause of these wrecks; in short, that they Avere wreckers. 

*IIakluyt, vol. iii.p. 200. 



56 AMERICAN POWER. 

Towards the close of 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh sent one hun- 
dred and seventeen emigrants to his Roanoke colony, there to 
make settlements; but they found, upon the whole island, nothing 
but the hones of one European. What became of the unfortunate 
companions of Sir Richard Greenville has never been known. 

Among the first adventurers who visited the establishment of 
Roanoke was Thomas Harriot, a mathematician, who had par- 
ticularly applied himself to collect information upon the character 
of the soil, the climate, the natural productions, the fish, and the 
animals of Virginia, and especially the habits, manners, and 
numbers of its natives. He published his interesting results. His 
work made such a favorable impression upon the minds of the 
English, that it contributed greatly to increase the taste and 
desire of emigrating to America, which already existed to a great 
degree. 

The native Americans extensively cultivated the potatoe, corn, 
and tobacco,* of which they made considerable use. Sir Walter 
Raleigh brought some of the tobacco to Europe, which caused a 
marked change in the manners of the fashionable youths of that 
period, as its use spread rapidly among them. 

The enterprising spirit of Sir Walter was not checked by the 
failure of his first attempts. In 1588, he sent out another expe- 
dition, under the command of Captain John White. f It would 
appear that this expedition had not been provided with the requi- 
site means to form their establishment ; and, by a resolution of the 
new colonists. Captain White was obliged to return to Europe to 
demand assistance. Unfortunately, this demand reached England 
at a time when the fleet of Philip the Second, surnamed the Invin- 
cible, being at sea, created considerable uneasiness. Raleigh was 
then too much engrossed with the affairs of England to be able 
to devote any time to the new colony; and the colonists were 
from that time abandoned to their miserable fate. 

Thus ended the last attempts to form settlements in Virginia 
during the reign of Elizabeth. Raleigh, led away by other 
projects, in which his feelings were more involved, transferred all 
his rights to the colonization of America to Thomas Smith and a 

* This plant derives its name from Tabasco, in Mexico, where the 
Spaniards first observed its use. 
t Smith's History of Virginia. 



MARQUIS DE LA ROCHE. 57 

company of merchants, who made no immediate efforts to con- 
tinue the establishment in Virginia. 

In 1590, two English vessels landed at the Roanoke colony ; but 
their commandants were informed that the inhabitants had aban- 
doned it and retired to another point, called by the natives Crootori. 
Surprised, while on this coast, without shelter for their vessels, by 
one of those gales so frequent off Cape Hatteras, they made no 
further search, and returned to England without having obtained 
the slightest information as to the fate of their unfortunate fellow- 
countrymen. This colony was not, for many years, thought of in 
England. 

In 1588, France, under the reign of Henry the Third, who had 
inherited the troubles and misfortunes heaped upon the kingdom 
by his predecessor, granted the exclusive trade of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to Chaton and Noel, nephews of James Cartier; but 
this grant was soon revoked. 

In 1591, Ravillon repaired to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in 
order to explore the seal-fisheries which abounded in those lati- 
tudes. 

At last, Henry the Fourth revived those projects of colonization 
which had so often been abandoned, and, in 1598, the year in 
which the edict of Nantes had been issued in favor of the Pro- 
testants, he appointed the Marquis de la Roche his lieutenant- 
general for Canada, Hochelaga, Labrador, Rosembegue, New- 
foundland, the River of the Great Bay and adjacent territory; 
authorized him to equip vessels, raise troops, and carry with him 
all persons necessary to the establishment of a colony; to build 
forts and cities, to concede lands, fiefs, other lordships under dif- 
ferent titles; and to make such laws for the government of those 
countries as would be necessary for them. 

The Marquis de la Roche anchored off Sable Island, where he 
landed some of his crew, and sailed towards the main land; but, 
in returning to Sable Island, he encountered a heavy gale, which 
compelled him to make sail direct for France. 

Those whom he had left remained on Sable Island five years, 
during which time they lived upon the cattle that had been left 
there eighty years before by Baron Lery. 

The Sieur Chauvin, a gentleman of the chamber of Henry the 
Fourth, who, after the death of the Marquis de la Roche, had 
obtained the same terms, in 1601 made another fruitless attempt 



68 AMERICAN POWER. 

to form an establishment at Tadoussac, on the left shore of the 
River St. Lawrence, ninety leagues above its mouth. This was 
the first post at which the French began the fur trade with the 
natives. 

In 1602, an English captain, Bartholomew Grosnold,* equipped 
a vessel at his own expense, and sailed towards North America, 
hoping to make some discoveries. He examined the landing 
places as far north as latitude forty-three degrees; landed at 
Cape Cod, which he thus named from the quantity of cod fish in 
its vicinity; entered Buzzard's Bay, and visited several islands, 
the largest of which he named Martha's Vineyard, because of the 
number of its vines; treated and traded with the Indians; and 
returned to England with a large cargo of sassafras — a plant 
then considered a specific in certain diseases: but he derived no 
permanent advantage from his voyage. 

On the death of the Sieur Chauvin, Commander Chatte, Go- 
vernor of Dieppe, obtained letters from Henry the Fourth to form 
a settlement in Canada. He engaged the services of the Sieur 
Champlain. This celebrated navigator made a voyage to Ame- 
rica, which, in consequence of the extensive explorations he 
made in that country, was highly successful. Champlain was 
a native of Saintonge, and a captain in the French service. 
He constantly served in Canada, from 1603 to 1629, and had 
consequently been twenty-six years in making important disco- 
veries in the interior, and upon the coast, from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to New York, whose immense importance he had 
clearly recognized, by reason of the direct communication which 
the Hudson River opened with the Lakes, the head waters of the 
St. Lawrence, and the sea. He took a large share in the colo- 
nization of Canada, and displayed great activity and remarkable 
sagacity in his intercourse with the natives. Champlain may 
justly be considered the founder of Canada, as well as one of its 
most able and interesting historians. 

Commander Chatte having died this year, the Sieur Montz, 
another gentleman of the king's chamber, succeeded him in his 
undertaking. He had accompanied Sieur Chauvin as an ama- 
teur, in his last voyage to Canada, and had found the climate of 
Tadoussac uncomfortably severe; he consequently formed the 

* Smith, p. 105, 



EXPEDITION OF DE MONTZ. 59 

determination of removing his settlements more to the south, on 
some points of the continent blessed with a kindlier temperature. 
He associated himself in this enterprise with the Sieur de Pau- 
trinconrt, and accompanied him on a voyage. 

The letters patent granted to the Sieur de Montz were dated 
November 8, 1608, and were directed to him as lieutenant-general 
of the king in Acadia. 

In this year, upon the recommendation of Hakluyt, the city of 
Bristol, at its own expense, sent a vessel to North America, under 
the orders of Captain Martin Pring. This navigator touched at 
the same places, on the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, which 
Captain Grosnold had visited before him; but he formed no estab- 
lishments.* 

In 1604, the Sieur de Montz organized an expedition for Ame- 
rica, composed of two vessels, in one of which he embarked with 
Champlain and De Pautrincourt. The other was intrusted to the 
Sieur de Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, and was particularly 
intended for the fur trade with the natives along the coast called 
the Efchemins, which they were to visit, towards Camseau and 
the Island of Cape Breton. 

The vessel upon which De Montz had embarked made land 
upon the coast of Acadia, at Port Rossignal ; keeping in sight of 
the coast, he made for another point, which he named Port au 
Mouton. He afterwards reached Cape Sable, and made sail to- 
wards St. Mary's Bay, where he anchored. After remaining 
there several days, he weighed anchor, and explored a large bay, 
which he called French Bay, known by the English as the Bay 
of Fundy, whence there is a channel leading to a port which 
received the name of Port Royal, because of the excellent anchor- 
age it afforded. The Sieur de Pautrincourt found this place so 
much to his taste, that he requested its cession to him, that he 
might settle there with his family. He obtained this grant under 
the title of Acadia, under which denomination was comprised all 
the country from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north 
latitude. 

He left Port Royal to reconnoitre the mines, of which the 
natives had spoken, and reached the River St. John on the 24th 
of June. Departing thence, he kept nigh the coast until he 

* Smith. 



00 AMERICAN POWER. 

arrived at the mouth of a river, where he formed a settlement 
upon a small island, which he named St. Croix. The river 
itself subsequently received this name. It is now the boundary 
line between the United States and the British Possessions in 
America. When, in 18'20, I visited this part of the frontier of 
the United States, I found upon the island the visible remains 
of the ancient French fortifications. The situation of the post of 
St. Croix having been found unhealthy, and but slightly advan- 
tageous, it was determined, in 1605, to remove the establishment 
to Port Royal, now Annapolis, in the Province of Nova Scotia. 

Thus, in the course of this year. Captain Charaplain explored 
and visited the whole extent of the coast since known as New 
England, and took possession of it in the name of France, for he 
planted a cross with the arms of Henry the Fourth on the land 
of the Quinibiquis; on that where Boston was afterwards founded 
by the English; and at Cape Blanc, now Cape Cod. He even 
visited the Bay of New York, whence he returned to Port Royal, 
then the chief of all the French establishments in America. 

In 1605, George Weymouth made a voyage of discovery to the 
coast of New England, which he carefully examined, to ascertain 
the facilities it otlered for the planting of settlements. This voy- 
age, however, did not yield any important result. All that was 
done was to ascertain that these places were already known by 
French names.* 

The Sieur de Pautrincourt, in 1606, made a second voyage, 
accompanied by L'Escarbot, author of some excellent memoirs 
upon the discoveries and settlements of the French in America, 
who remained at Port Royal. He then devoted all his energies 
to the erection of new buildings ; for this purpose, he again visited 
the entire coast, and compelled his settlers to cultivate wheat, and 
even to plant vines. During this year, Captain Charnplain re- 
turned to France. 

While the French were engaged with zeal, activity, and intel- 
ligence in the colonization of their American colonies, James 
the First, King of Great Britain, disposed of these countries, 
by a royal charter, in favor of his subjects, as though they 
belonged to the British crown, or were entirely unknown and 
uninhabited. 

* Smith, pp. IS, 20. 



PLYMOUTH COLONY. 61 

In fact, in consideration of the reports furnished by Captain 
Grosnold, who was in command of a preceding expedition, two 
new companies were formed in England to colonize America, and 
obtained, from King James the First, letters patent in their favor. 

These letters patent were dated the 10th of April, 1606 ; they 
divided, by an imaginary line, that part of the continent of Ame- 
rica, situated between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of 
north latitude, into two almost equal parts: one was called the 
JVorthern Colony, and the other the Southern Colony, of Virginia. 

The name Virginia, it may be remembered, had been given, 
with incredible presumption, by English navigators to all that 
portion of the continent comprised between Acadia and Florida, 
by virtue of Raleigh's discovery, in 1584, of a single isolated point 
to the south of Cape Hatteras. 

James the First granted the Southern Colony to Sir Thomas 
Gates & Company, of London — meaning that portion comprised 
between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude, 
extending fifty miles along the coast north and south from the 
point of their first settlement: it was to extend only one hundred 
miles in the interior. This colony retained the name of Virginia, 
which it still bears, but with modifications as to its internal boun- 
dary. 

The Northern Colony of Virginia, better known as the Plymouth 
Colony, which it took in consideration of its founders, who be- 
longed to a port of that name in England, was to extend along 
the coast from the thirty-eighth to the forty-fifth degrees of north 
latitude, and extend indefinitely into the interior as far as the shores 
of the Pacific Ocean. These grants, however, rested upon the 
supposition that the territory was not already occupied by the sub- 
jects of other nations. And the only conditions imposed by royal 
generosity were that the grantees should acknowledge the sove- 
reignty of the crown of England, and pay a tax of one-fifth of all 
the gold or silver mines, and one-fifteenth of all the other minerals 
they should discover. 

It would appear that, as far back as 1606, the Plymouth Colony 
made the first attempt to insure their right to this grant; but 
the vessel sent out under the command of H. Chalton was taken 
by the Spaniards near the Antilles. At this period, the Spaniards 
would not acknowledge the right of any nation to navigate those 



62 AMERICAN POWER. 

seas, as this interfered, according to their ideas, with the rights to 
their American possessions acquired by the discovery of Christo- 
pher Columbus. 

A second expedition was sent out under the orders of Captain 
Raleigh Gilbert, and under the protection of George and Pophara. 
It anchored in Kennebec River, and founded, with forty-five colo- 
nists, a settlement to which the name of St. George was given. 
But the emigrants found the climate so severe, that they aban- 
doned this post, in 1608, for the vessel sent out to carry them 
assistance. 

Thus ended, for that time, the attempts made by the English to 
colonize the eastern portion of the Continent of America. Smith 
says that the country was thought too cold, barren, and moun- 
tainous for a settlement, and that it had the appearance of a field 
sown with rocks. 

This appears to me to be quite a perfect description of this 
portion of America, whose rugged character, repulsive aspect, 
and iron-bound coast must have made the most unfavorable 
impression upon the minds of those who had just arrived from 
Europe. 

The London Company, towards the end of the year 1606, sent 
an expedition to Virginia, under the orders of Captain Newport, 
accompanied by John Smith, the celebrated author of the "History 
of Virginia." This expedition had a very long passage. It sailed 
from London on the 9th of December, and did not arrive in the 
Chesapeake Bay till the 26th of April, 1607.* 

Towards the end of May, this colony made a settlement on 
James River, which received this name in honor of King James. 
In June, Newport returned to England. One of the first laws 
instituted in this colony compelled all colonists to perform labor, 
and to clear their lands, under the penalty of being deprived of 
any share of the provisions. The company to which these two 
Virginia colonies had been conceded received a charter, confer- 
ring upon them the right to trade, to use a common seal, and 
consequently to act both as commercial and political bodies. A 
special clause specified the administrative form to be adopted for 
the government of the colonies. Thus, the superior administration 
was confided to a council residing in England, and appointed by 

* Stith, pp. 41, 44. Smith, p. 150. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 63 

the crown ; and the colony was to be governed bylaws emanating 
from this council. A council residing in the colony, but also 
appointed by the crown, was charged with a secondary jurisdic- 
tion. The right of remaining an English citizen was granted to 
all the colonists, and all necessary articles were admitted free of 
duty into the colony; and they were permitted to trade freely 
with all nations. The duties imposed upon the introduction of 
manufactured articles, or upon foreign productions, were, for the 
period of twenty-one years, to be applied to the payment or reduc- 
tion of the expenses of the colony. In fine, the Protestant reli- 
gion, as that of the crown, was to be predominant. 

Such was, from the commencement, the administrative and 
governmental organization of the oldest English colonies in Ame- 
rica, in conformity to the letter of the royal charter granted and 
accepted at that time, and which, in our day, would certainly not 
have been so readily admitted by emigrants from the same coun- 
try; for it was dictated in direct violation of the inalienable and 
sacred rights of liberty which belong to every individual. 

From what we have stated in the three preceding chapters, we 
deduce the evident proof of the priority of the French over the 
English in attempts to establish colonies in America: for Baron 
Lery, on the part of France, sought to found a colony at a period 
so remote as 1518; while Humphrey Gilbert, on the part of Eng- 
land, did not attempt, until 1583, sixty-five years later, to create 
a settlement in Virginia. 

It is also proved that the French anticipated England fifty years 
in the foundation of their first colony, since that of James Cartier 
took place in 1535, while that of Sir Walter Raleigh was so late as 
1585. The first permanent settlement was formed by the French, 
in 1604, upon the coast of Etchemins, afterwards removed to Port 
Royal; while that of the English in Virginia dates from 1607, 
and this was on a very small scale. 

In fine, as a geographical fact, based upon the discoveries 
made, and the establishments founded by Europeans in America, 
it is proved by what has already been asserted, and equally 
verified by the charts of that period,* that, upon the Continent 
of America, the English had taken possession of only that por- 
tion known as Virginia; that JYew Belgium was to be found a 

* Naval Depot of Charts. 



64 AMERICAN POWER. 

little to the north of this point; and that all the eastern portion, 
including the River St. Lawrence, was known as Jfew France. 
But there is no question as to JVew England. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1608—1620. 

ct)L0NIZATI0N OF THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND DUTCH. 

Quebec founded by Champlain ; he examines Lake Ontario, Sorrel River, Lake 
Champlain, the Mohawk, and Hudson. — Colony of New Holland, or New Belgium 
— Discovery of Captain Hudson ; first settlement upon Manhattan Island — The 
Sieur de Pautrincourt — Attack on the French settlements of Port Royal by the 
inhabitants of Virginia, under the orders of Captain Argall — This officer visits 
New Holland with the intention of opposing the rights of the Dutch — Fort 
Orange founded by the Dutch — Champlain penetrates into the interior of Canada ; 
attacks the Iroquois — Caron, the missionary, on Lake Huron. — Colony of Virginia; 
spirit of its administration — Jamestown founded by Captain Smith ; he returns 
to England — Lord Delaware, his successor — Martial law in force until the 
arrival of Governor Yeardley — First colonial assembly — The colony receives a 
constitution and an independent administration from the proj^rietors — First 
African slaves introduced into Virginia. 

The chronological order followed in this historical summary 
leads us naturally to the foundation of Quebec* by Champlain in 
1608, from which period dates the permanency of the Canada 
colony, and the definitive and permanent acknowledgment of 
French influence and power in the New World ; which, by a 
more judicious course of conduct, it might have been possible to 
preserve until this day, and to have transmitted unshaken to 
posterity. 

Champlainf continued to employ all his intelligence and rare 
activity in acquiring an exact knowledge of the immense territory 
whose conquest he was to insure to his native country. He pene- 
trated deep into the interior, and, in the midst of toilsome and 
adventurous journeys, made surveys and plans of the country 
over which he traveled, and everywhere collected valuable informa- 

* Charlevoix, vol. i. p. 120. 
t Naval Official Manuscripts. 



COLONY OF NEW HOLLAND. 65 

tion upon the resources and riches of these unknown countries. 
He everywhere tried to conciliate the good will of the numerous 
natives; visited their establishments; traded with some, made 
treaties of peace and alliance with others ; and imparted to all 
an exalted idea of the power of their new visitors. 

In 1609, Champlain, led away by his indefatigable and adven- 
turous spirit, joined a party of Hurons and Algonquins, who were 
going to war against the Iroquois, or Five Nations, then living 
near the sources of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. He by this 
means made an examination of the River Sorrel, and entered 
Lake Iroquois — to which he gave his own name — and that of St. 
Sacrament, now known as Lake George. 

Champlain was the first to visit by sea the whole coast from 
Acadia to New York Bay,* which he entered. He also examined 
the country which has since received from the English the name 
of JVew England. He even raised the arms of France upon 
the soil of Cape Blanc, since known as Cape Cod, and by the 
Dutch as Stactemhook. France could then, in all justice, have 
claimed a title to the possession of that country, as her sailors 
had been the first to explore it. 



COLONY OF NEW HOLLAND, OR NEW BELGIUM. 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Holland was in 
the first rank as a maritime and commercial nation. Her mer- 
chant marine was very extensive, numbering ten thousand sail 
and eighty-four thousand seamen. Her flag was seen flying in 
every sea. The advantages which the colonization of America 
might offer in a commercial point of view had not escaped the 
speculating genius of her merchants. Hence did the Holland 
Company accept the services of an English captain, Henry 
Hudson, a celebrated navigator, who had already, in search of a 
passage to India, made two voyages to the coast of America, and 
given, on his return, an interesting account of his discoveries. 

The Dutch East India Company intrusted an expedition to 
Hudson ; and, accompanied by his son, he sailed from Amsterdam 
in April, 1608, with a crew half Dutch and half English. 

* Official Manuscripts. 



66 AMERICAN POWER. 

He at first sailed along the coast of Norway as far as Cape 
North. He afterwards visited the White Sea, the coast of Nova 
Zembla, and the entrance into the Straits of Waigatz ; but the 
presence of icebergs having closed the passage, he made other 
attempts towards the west. He reached the coast of Greenland; 
thence he proceeded to Newfoundland, explored Acadia, arrived 
at Penobscot Bay, doubled Cape Cod, and, steering to the south- 
west, found the entrance into the Chesapeake. This was the 
extreme southern point of his navigation. Hudson then coasted 
along the shores, but did not land ; he visited the entrance of the 
Delaware, and took possession, in the name of Holland, of the 
neighboring shore of Cape May. In continuing his course along 
the shores, he reached the latitude of Sandy Hook, whence he 
penetrated into Manhattan Bay, and into the great river that has 
since borne his name. 

He ascended this river to the site of the present city of Albany, 
a distance of one hundred and sixty English miles; then, selecting 
various points where useful establishments might be formed, he 
returned to Europe to render an account of the results of his 
expedition to the company in Amsterdam. 

In 1610, Hudson again put to sea in the employment of an 
English company, and sailed with the fixed idea of finding a 
north-west passage to India. He entered the immense bay which 
now bears his name, and so impressed was he with its vastness, 
that he thought for an instant he had succeeded in the object of 
his hopes. Desirous of a confirmation of his wishes, he had the 
courage to pass a winter in this latitude, that he might, on the 
return of spring, lose no time in prosecuting his researches. 
Spring having set in, he renewed his course; but he perished, 
the victim of his daring courage, and of the cowardly and crimi- 
nal desertion of his crew. 

In the course of this year, the Dutch, by virtue of the rights 
resulting to them from Hudson's voyage, founded their first estab- 
lishment, which extended from the entrance of the Delaware Bay 
to the mouth of the Mohawk on the Hudson. This territory re- 
ceived the name of JVew Belgium. Fort Amsterdam (since New 
York) was erected on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the 
Hudson. 

Sir Thomas Bulton, wishing to follow up Hudson's work, sailed 
in 1612 with two vessels; one under his own command, the other 



EXCESSES OF CAPTAIN ARGALL. 67 

under that of Captain Ingram. With a fair wind, he sailed 
directly towards the sea Hudson had discovered. He ascended 
two hundred leagues to the south-west, and wintered at Port 
Nelson, where he lost half of his crew. In the spring, he returned 
to England. 

Bulton had scarcely returned, when Hall and Baffin sailed, 
with the intention of sharing the glory of the discovery. 

Hall was assassinated by a savage, and Baffin hastened to re- 
turn ; but with the resolution of shortly undertaking another voyage. 
His desire was realized in 1615. 

The colonization of Acadia by the French appeared already to 
excite the jealous cupidity of the English established in Virginia.. 
They even began to show their dissatisfaction openly when the 
Sieur de Pautrincourt — whose courageous and persevering zeal 
enabled him to contend against all difficulties — arrived at Port 
Royal with timely assistance to consolidate the colony he had 
founded, and caused a great number of Indians in the vicinity of 
his colony to be baptized, in the hope that, through the extension 
of religion, the influence of France might be augmented. 

In the mean while, a certain Captain Argall was sent by the 
Virginia colony to trade with the natives on the coast to the north, 
and to ascertain whether any other nation w'ould dare to attempt 
an establishment on that portion of the continent which King James 
the First claimed as belonging to his crown, and to which, by 
merely applying his signature at the bottom of the royal charter, 
he had extended the rights of jurisdiction and disposal. This 
violent, avaricious, and blood-thirsty captain put into Penobscot 
Bay, where he was informed by the Indians that the French had 
formed the establishment of St. Sauveur, under the auspices of 
the Sieur de Guercheville; and, falling suddenly upon the poor, 
inoffensive, and unprotected colonists, he carried 'them off, and • 
burned and pillaged their post. By this means, the greater num- 
ber of them perished. Thus commenced the first act of violence 
and usurpation of the Anglo-Saxons on the French colonies, in 
the present State of Maine. 

Argall returned to the Virginia colony, boasted of his shameful 
depredations, and returned the same year to attack the colony of 
Port Royal and St. Croix. Finding this also without the means 
of resistance, he treated it with the same degree of inhumanity 



68 AMERICAN POWER. 

he had exhibited towards that of St. Sauveur, and thus gave a 
mortal blow to the establishments of the Sieur de Montz. 

The living wreck of the French colony of Acadia, which had 
escaped from Argall's horrible pillage, was taken on board of the 
Sieur de Pautrincourt's vessels, which, in the mean time, had 
arrived to supply the colony with provisions. 

M. de Pautrincourt applied to Louis the Thirteenth for redress 
from England for these strange and brutal attacks in time of 
profound peace. This indefatigable and courageous founder of 
Acadia died a short time afterwards, and the violence committed 
by the English was left unpunished! 

Argall, returning from the horrible destruction of the French 
establishments, landed, in 1613, in the Bay of New York, and, 
for the first time, saw the Dutch establishments founded on the 
point of Manhattan Island. Having a more numerous disposable 
force than these poor inhabitants, he easily compelled them to 
acknowledge the supremacy of the crown of England. He then 
returned to Virginia. 

The Dutch, however, even after Argall's visit, continued to 
extend their establishments. They built Fort Nassau, on the 
Delaware ; explored the Connecticut River, on the banks of which 
they built Fort Bonne Esperance (Good Hope) ; and founded, at 
the head of navigation, on the Hudson River, the post of Orange, 
now Albany, which presented better facilities for the fur trade 
with the Indians — the principal object of their cupidity. 

It was through this post, by means of exchanges with the 
Dutch, that the Iroquois were furnished with firearms, with 
which they waged such cruel and desperate wars against the 
French, recently established upon the St. Lawrence, and in its 
vicinity. 

Nevertheless, Champlain perseveringly continued, during all 
this time, an active and intelligent reconnaissance of Canada; he 
even made a map of it. He penetrated far into the interior of the 
country towards Lake Superior, and carried the war into the midst 
of the Iroquois and Mohawks, and thrice invaded their country. 
These Indians were very warlike, and incomparably brave; but 
he attacked them in their intrenchments, in the heart of their 
villages, and succeeded twice in defeating them. They had 
never before heard the report of, or seen, an arquebuse; for they 
had not then had any intercourse with Europeans. Their weapons 



COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 69 

consisted of stone-axes, and arrows tipped with gun-flints or silex, 
which they made very sharp. 

The Iroquois became so intimidated by the noise of firearms, 
that, notwithstanding their rare courage, they were eventually 
constrained to sue for peace, and even to trust to the generosity 
of Champlain for the settlement of the terms. 

Nevertheless, this state of war continued without intermission 
until the year 1621, at which period the first peace was concluded 
with the Iroquois, whose territory was added to the dominions of 
New France. 



VIRGINIA COLONY. 

We have shown, in the preceding chapter, in chronological 
order, the origin of the Virginia colony. We shall now take up 
the most prominent facts which occurred during the first period 
of its organization. They will exhibit, what might already have 
been predicted, the spirit of independence, which, at a later period, 
was to bring these American colonies to so elevated a social posi- 
tion among civilized nations. 

The charter, under which the colony of Virginia had been 
constituted, had been revised, as clearly as we can ascertain, 
more with the object of retaining the colonists in a state of de- 
pendence upon the mother country than of leaving them free to 
administer their own concerns, according to circumstances and 
the wants created by their novel situation. Thus, influenced by 
this spirit, the authorities in London were careful to exclude from 
the administrative council one of the most capable men among 
the emigrants, Captain Smith, whose rare energy and talents ren- 
dered him so popular among his new fellow-citizens. Neverthe- 
less, this want of favor only served to increase his popularity in 
Virginia. 

Now, as at this difficult period the new colonists had been 
several times on the eve of abandoning their settlement, in con- 
sequence chiefly of Indian aggressions, they w^re compelled to 
apply to this able chief for the means of repelling the constant 
attacks of the natives, and of extricating themselves from their 
critical position. 

It was under these circumstances that Captain Smith, in 1608, 



70 AMERICAN POWER. 

ordered the building of a small town, which, in honor of King 
James the First, was named Jamestown. In its construction, he 
watched over, and zealously shared, the labors of the colonists; 
and the town thus became a place of shelter and refuge against 
the Indians, and afforded the means of repulsing their assaults. 

Moreover, the proprietors and founders of the colony, powerful 
and rich, displayed great energy, zeal, and perseverance in send- 
ing to it assistance. By this means the colony not only so far 
succeeded in overcoming its first difficulties as to maintain itself, 
but eventually became prosperous. 

To prevent the colonists from devoting themselves exclusively 
to hunting and trading with the Indians, a remarkable ordinance 
was promulgated — that each colonist should labor for the per- 
manent establishment of the colony, to entitle him to a share of 
the assistance and provisions arriving from Europe. 

Captain Smith returned to England in 1609.* The colony then 
numbered two hundred inhabitants and sixty houses. After his 
departure, it relapsed into its w^onted state of internal discord, 
and would have sunk a second time, but for the timely arrival of 
Lord Delaware and his companions in 1610, who gave it a fresh 
impulse. 

Lord Delaware succeeded Captain Smith, and restored order 
in the colony; but his residence was brief. Sickness and the 
climate of the country compelled him to return to England. He 
was followed by Sir Thomas Dale, who placed the colony under 
martial law. In 1611, Sir Thomas Gates arrived at Jamestown 
with additional colonists and abundant succor, which contributed 
in giving so vigorous an impulse to the colony, that, notwith- 
standing the violent and brutal authority of Captain Argall as 
lieutenant governor, its prosperity and consolidation gradually 
augmented. 

Meantime, the English nation was rapidly regaining the ground 
she had lost during the civil wars which marked the sixteenth 
century. She directed all her energies to the acquisition of civil 
rights, and liberty of conscience and action; and every new 
emigration of colonists to America felt the stimulus of this state 
of feelintj. All the emiijrants arrived with a determination to 
claim the right of self-government. In 1619, Governor Yeardley 

* Smith. 



GOVERNOR YEARDLEY. 71 

superseded Argall.* He saw the necessity, in consequence of 
this spirit of freedom, of convoking an assembly, where each 
plantation should have a right to be represented by a delegate, 
and of thus granting to it the rights and prerogatives of a legis- 
lature. Eleven communities sent representatives to this conven- 
tion, the first act of which was the repeal of martial law, which 
had remained in force until that time. 

Thus, the administration of Yeardley commenced under happy 
auspices. The first popular assembly held in America was 
organized under him; a remarkable governmental fact — as in- 
teresting as it is important to notice, because it fixes the starting- 
point of the democratic era in America. 

This assembly caused a new charter to be granted to the Colo- 
nization Company of Virginia. The London Company issued its 
memorable ordinancef on the 24th of July, 1621, which contained 
the following provisions: — 

The governor of the colony, representing the king, and the 
permanent council, answering as a Chamber of Peers, were to be 
appointed by the London Company. A popular assembly, com- 
posed of delegates appointed directly by the colonists, and, as 
it were, representing the House of Commons, was to hold its 
sessions annually. Such, at least, was the analogy which the 
authors of that charter preserved between this new colonial legis- 
lation and that of the mother country. 

The fact is that all which these new legislative provisions pre- 
sented as truly democratic was owing, not to the identity of the 
forms adopted with those of the constitution of Great Britain, but 
rather to the degree in which they diverged from that standard. 

After all, the legislative administration of Virginia differed but 
little from that of England. It was even a faithful copy of it, with 
a few rare exceptions. 

Moreover, by a feeling of self-reliance, very commendable for 
those times, it was provided that, after the installation of the 
new government, no order from the crown should be binding 
upon the colony, unless it had been approved by the General 
Assembly. 

As for the courts of justice, they were to conform themselves to 
English laws. Thus were introduced into the New World, as 

* Stith, pp. 157-161. t Ibid., p. 181. 



72 AMERICAN POWER. 

rights acquired and acknowledged, the representative system and 
the trial by jury. 

From that period the colonists ceased to be under the control 
of the will of a commercial company, and by this means conquered, 
for themselves and their descendants in perpetuity, the title and 
prerogatives of free citizens. 

Husbandry then advanced with such rapid strides that European 
workmen could not be obtained in sufficient number for the wants 
of the colony. In the year 1620, a Dutch vessel of war landed 
twenty negroes at Jamestown, to be put up for sale. They were 
the first Africans carried into Virginia — and this contagious ex- 
ample was extensively imitated! 



CHAPTER V. 
1620—1639. 

COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. 

The eastern coast of America receives the name of New England — The Englisli 
make several voyages to it for the purpose of trading with the natives — Plymouth 
Colony; its estabUshment ; its early governmental and administrative organization 
— James the First grants new letters patent to a company under the title of Grand 
Council of Plymouth for Colonizing New England, whose object was to prevent the 
Puritans from settling in New England — ^Captain John Mason, member of the 
Council of Plymouth, receives the domain of Mariana, in New Hampshire — First 
establishments of Portsmouth ; its advantages for the fisheries — Royal concession 
of Acadia, under the name of Nova Scotia, by King James, to Sir William 
Alexander — Designation of what. was then meant by Acadia — Grant of Charles 
the First to Sir Fernando Gorges — Geographical division of the Continent of 
North America. 

The Virginia Company had sent Captain Smith upon the eastern 
coast of America, for the purpose of trading with the natives. 
This able navigator took advantag^e of this mission to make a 
detailed reconnaissance of its bays, harbors, and rivers. He col- 
lected much information upon the nature of the country, the 
fertility of its soil, and its resources — of which he carried back to 
England so favorable a description that young Prince Charles, son 



PLYMOUTH COLONY. 73 

of James the First, afterwards Charles the First, gave it the name 
of JVew England. 

The origin of this name, which still obtains at this day, dates 
from that period. But that portion of the coast especially exa- 
mined by Captain Smith, to which the name was given, appeared 
so unimportant, absorbed, as it was, by the immensity of country 
known under the name of Canada, comprising the whole northern 
extent of the continent, that he entreated the Prince of Wales, in 
handing him the map, to order that the French names, which 
then alone designated the various points upon that coast, should 
be replaced by English ones. 

However favorable may have been the reports of Captain 
Smith, their only result was, for some time, to encourage new 
expeditions for the purpose of trading with the natives. 

The country appeared so forbidding, the climate so severe and 
inhospitable, and the success of the establishments so contingent, 
as to afford little chance that emigrants could be induced to colo- 
nize it. 

It was fortunate for humanity and for future generations, that 
there already existed, in a certain class of society in Europe, a 
spirit that was willing to brave all difficulty, all privation, and all 
danger; a spirit, in short, that did not fear to land and to settle 
on these iron-bound coasts, however repulsive and dangerous they 
might be even to brave adventurers who dared to seek there a 
refuge against the tyranny of conscience to which they were sub- 
jected. That spirit had its source in holy inspiration, which thus 
induced men to exile themselves, that they might obey the dictates 
of their conscience, and pray to God according to their sincere 
belief! 

PLYMOUTH COLONY. 

The division of factions had powerfully shaken society in 
Europe, and especially in England, since 1614. A great num- 
ber of Puritans, in their flight from the religious despotism to which 
they could not submit, had been compelled at first to remove to 
Holland. They settled at Leyden, under the orders of John Ro- 
binson. But they made, in that country, no proselytes to their 
doctrines; the Dutch were much too phlegmatic, and much too 
quiet, for their restless and turbulent spirit. They then cast their 



74 AMERICAN POWER. 

eyes towards the New World, which presented a prospect far 
more accordant with their principles and ideas. 

They applied to the Virginia Colonization Society for a grant 
of land within their limits, and obtained it; but King James, 
without wishing to discourage them in their undertaking, would, 
nevertheless, give no guaranty that they should be entirely shel- 
tered from persecution. 

On the 6th of September, 1620, they sailed with the expecta- 
tion of arriving in the Hudson River; but their captain, probably 
from design, steered to the north of Cape Cod, consequently be- 
yond the limits of the Virginia society. 

On their debarkation, they appointed John Carver governor of 
their colony for one year, and immediately organized an adminis- 
trative government. They afterwards commenced to explore the 
whole coast in their vicinity, in order to insure to themselves the 
most favorable locality for the foundation of an establishment. 
On the 17th of December, 1620, they selected a position in a bay 
to which they gave the name of Plymouth, in compliment to the 
city where their society had received the last marks of hospitality 
in Europe. 

The first step taken by these bold and resolute emigrants was 
marked, as I have just stated, by a very remarkable act of inde- 
pendence and sound judgment. They had given themselves a 
governor of their choice, and adopted administrative forms in 
accordance with the dominant principle of their ideas of religion 
and liberty, without in any wise troubling themselves about the 
spirit and conditions of the royal letters in virtue of which they 
had just established themselves under the protection of the crown 
of England.* 

The official declaration made by these emigrants, in consti- 
tuting themselves a body politic, on the first day of their landing, 
cannot be read without interest. 

"In the name of God, amen: We, the undersigned, loyal sub- 
jects of our sovereign lord, and feared, James, by the grace of 
God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the 
Faith, having, for the honor of our king and country, undertaken 
a voyage, with the intention of founding and establishing a 
colony in the northern part of Virginia, do create and form, by 

* Salmon's Modern History, vol. i. p. 533. 



PECULIARITIES OF ITS ORGANIZATION. 75 

these presents, solemnly and mutually, before God, and each of 
us here present, a civil and political society, to direct, preserve, 
constitute, and organize such just and equitable laws, ordinances, 
acts, institutions, and employments, as from time to time shall 
be judged most advantageous and most favorable to the hap- 
piness of the colony, to which we promise obedience and sub- 
mission." 

It was under this compact that the government of Plymouth 
colony, then composed of one hundred and three persons, was 
organized; but fatigue and disease reduced the colonists in the 
space of one year to less than one-half of their original number. 
The executive power was placed in the hands of a governor and 
a superior council, annually elected by a meeting of the free mem- 
bers of the colony. Every freeman, for slavery had most unfor- 
tunately already stained the American soil, belonging to the 
established church, had a right to vote upon- all subjects of general 
interest. Their jurisprudence was, for the most part, borrowed 
from the sacred books of Moses. 

In consequence of this provision, the general council was 
charged with regulating the public business, and deciding all 
suits, by the simple light of reason, without the aid of any 
code. 

In accordance with the criminal jurisprudence of the Jews, 
false testimony, sacrilege, blasphemy, and adultery were punished 
with death. 

Those who were detected lying, drunk, or dancing, were pub- 
licly whipped, and exposed astraddle upon a rail to the laughter 
of the multitude. Pleasure, as well as vice and crime, was inter- 
dicted. In short, a transgression of the sanctity of the Sabbath 
was punished by a heavy fine. 

This form of government continued until the year 1634, at 
which period the colony was incorporated with that of Massa- 
chusetts. 

Hence, though the Plymouth colony was founded upon a grant 
derived from the Plymouth Company organized in 1606, it was 
not established under its auspices. The fact is, that company did 
not make any serious efforts to fulfil the conditions of the letters 
patent it received; consequently. King James the First granted, 
by new letters patent, more extensive powers and privileges in 
favor of the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham — who, 



76 AMERICAN POWER. 

being the favorite of the Prince of Wales, then exercised the 
greatest influence upon the mind of the king — and other asso- 
ciates. This new compan}' assumed the title of Grand Council 
of Plymouth for Colonizing JYew England. 

The object of the King of England, in conferring these new 
powers upon men so distinguished and influential was to pre- 
vent the colonization of New England by Puritan emigrants, in 
whose loyalty he had not full confidence. Notwithstanding all 
the advantages secured by this second royal grant, the latter 
company did not succeed any better than the former. The king 
was therefore compelled, as a last resort, to abandon his reso- 
lution relative to the Puritans. In fact, this was in some respects 
the only class of men suflSciently fanaticized by a dominant idea 
of religious liberty to persevere, under a climate so severe, in the 
colonization of lands so unfruitful and so unpropitious. 

In 1621, Captain John Mason, then engaged in the Newfound- 
land fisheries, was one of the Council of Plymouth. He asked for 
and obtained the grant called Mariana, extending from Cape Jinn 
to the sources of the Merrimack River. At a later period, he 
obtained an extension of this domain as far into the interior as 
the shores of the River St. Lawrence, and to the Great Lakes. 
This new domain took the name of Lacuna, and principally con- 
stituted the territory since known as JVew Hampshire. 

A grant which, at best, was made in direct violation of the 
rights of property acquired by the French, by their establishments 
on the River St. Lawrence; but these were already very little 
respected by the Anglo-Saxon race, who had but recently estab- 
lished themselves in the vicinity of the French possessions. 

A great number of fishermen placed themselves under the 
orders of John Mason, upon the borders of the Piscataqua, and 
established fisheries and salt ponds upon the place where Ports- 
mouth now stands, the capital and principal sea-port of JYew 
Hampshire. 

The advantages of this locality for fishing were so great that 
upwards of one thousand inhabitants were soon collected upon 
one of the sand islands at the entrance of the harbor of Ports- 
mouth; while at the present time, on the same spot, there are 
scarcely one hundred. 

But the spirit of independence of the Puritans of New England 
was already so manifest in all the acts of these new inhabitants, 



ENCROACHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH ON THE FRENCH. 77 

that one of the most celebrated men of that period, William 
Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, observed with extreme jeal- 
ousy the concessions granted to the Puritans by the crown ; 
and sought, by secret agents, to obtain correct information as to 
the dispositions of the colonists. Hence, as far back as 1635, a 
certain Burdett, from Piscataqua — according to Hutchinson, who 
gives an account of all the acts and doings of the inhabitants of 
New England — insinuated that the loyal intentions of the colonists, 
who did not seek so much to adopt new domestic administrative 
forms, as to put in action the principles of sovereignty, ought to 
be mistrusted; that, besides, the colonists, from principle, con- 
sidered it perjury and treason, in their general court, to make an 
appeal to the king or his government. 

The encroachments of the English upon the property of the 
French became more and more threatening; 1613 had seen the 
settlements of Acadia, St. Sauveur, and Penobscot devastated 
by an English freebooter from the colony of Virginia. Since 
that period, the Anglican missionaries had penetrated into the 
midst of the native inhabitants of that coast, and established meet- 
ing-houses and stores among them ; and by that means all New 
England had been settled in violation of the incontestable rights 
of discovery and prior colonization by the French. At a still later 
period, by the intervention of the same agents, the new English 
colonies, from the coast of New England, insolently extended 
their jurisdiction as far as the borders of the River St. Lawrence 
— a river eminently French by all the titles that can be created 
by discovery, colonization, battles, victories, and finally by treat- 
ies with the natives. In 1620, King James the First tried to 
put his royal seal upon all these encroachments, by conceding to 
Sir William Alexander the peninsula of Acadia, under the new 
name of JSTova Scotia. The object of these letters patent, as 
indicated by the title they bore, was "the settlement of vacant 
lands, or lands inhabited by infidels.^'' Now, since 1604, all this 
country had been occupied, inhabited, and cultivated by the French, 
as we have already seen. This prince, then, could not have had 
the least right to make these royal dispositions. 

Anterior to the treaty of Utrecht, the English had never been 
established in that country, though it had been the scene, it is true, at 
various times, of transient invasions on their part : but subsequent 
treaties have in all instances combated these pretensions, and, by 



78 AMERICAN POWER. 

settling the disputes to which they might have given rise, clearly- 
exposed thera. The English, therefore, have never been able to 
establish any rights to these possessions, except those of invasion, 
either violently or furtively conducted. 

It must be remarked that, at that time, Acadia included all 
the territory from east to west comprised between French Bay or 
Cape Fourchu, and Canseau or Campseau, which is a large penin- 
sula. Hence, it was erroneous to give the name of Acadia to 
other parts of the continent of America. It is a geographical error, 
with no importance, at this period, except in its relation to history; 
and the error, moreover, has been sufficiently corrected by the 
coincidence of two authors, strangers to each other, the Sieur 
Denis, a Frenchman, and Sir William Temple, an Englishman, 
who have agreed upon this point in their works published in 1672. 
We may then regard this an established fact. 

In 1639, King Charles granted to Sir Fernando Gorges, by 
royal charter, containing important privileges, the right of property 
over an immense domain situated upon the present territory of 
the State of Maine. As to the powers and immunities arising 
from the title as proprietor of this domain, they were assimilated 
to those of the Count Palatine of Durham. The majority of the 
proprietors, composing a species of landed aristocracy, were to 
enjoy specific rights, and to order and promulgate all laws judged 
good and useful, and not contrary to the laws of England. 

However, the advantages attached to this royal grant do not 
appear to have determined many emigrants to settle upon that 
domain at an early period ; for, a long time afterwards, the go- 
vernment of the Massachusetts colony extended its jurisdiction 
over that province. 

In accordance with the historical and geographical authorities 
of that day, the distinct divisions acknowledged upon the con- 
tinent of America are embraced in the following classification: — 

U Oues-Grone-Lande belonged to the Danes, 

L^ Esio-Lande, or land of Labrador, also called JYew Britain, 
or country of the Esquimaux, to the English. 

Canada, or New France, to the French. Under this name 
was comprised all the territory, north and south, watered by the 
River St. Lawrence; with the Island of Newfoundland and Acadia, 
which formed, for the purposes of administration, two distinct parts, 
but known, nevertheless, under the generic name of JYew France. 



COLONIZATION OF THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND DUTCH. 79 

JVeio England belonged to the English, and comprised all the 
extent of coast between the Kennebeck or Quinebequi River and 
a line drawn from Cape Cod to the shores of the Hudson, near a 
point where Albany is now sitiiated. 

JVew Holland, or New Belgium, belonged to the Dutch. It 
comprehended all the coast from Cape Cod to the Delaware in- 
clusive, and extended to the line of the Iroquois, where com- 
menced the domination of France in Canada. Thus, this colony 
covered all the territory of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, 
and New Jersey. 

Virginia belonged to the English. Under this name was par- 
ticularly designated the country comprised between the Chesa- 
peake and Jilbemarle River, including Maryland, Virginia, and 
the Carolinas. 

Finally, at the extreme south were found French and Spanish 
Florida* 



CHAPTER VI, 
1620—1653. 



COLONIZATION OF THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND DUTCH. 

Canada colony; its population somewhat increases under Louis the Thirteenth — The 
Sieur d'Aunay de Charnise and M. de la Tour; jealousy between these two 
chiefs — French posts in Canada — New Amsterdam founded — Establishment on 
Long Island — Northern Colony of Virginia, or Grand Council of Plymoulh ; its go- 
vernmental and administrative organization — Salem founded — Fiscal exaction of 
Laud, which drives numerous emigrants to New England — The Colony of New 
Plymouth assumes its own authority to remove the seat of the company from 
the mother country to America — John Winthrop elected governor — Dorchester, 
Charleston, and Boston founded — The Dutch extend their establishments — Gus- 
tavus Adolphus forms the project of creating a colony in America — Canada colony 
— The colony created by Richelieu does not fulfil its engagements — The colony of 
New France succeeds it — Hostilities between France and England, during which 
the establishments in Canada fall into the hands of the English — Evil system of 
French colonization. 

In the years 1620, 1621, and 1622, during the reign of Louis 
the Thirteenth, emigrations very rapidly increased the number of 

* Depot of Naval Charts. 



80 ' AMERICAN POWER. 

the inhabitants of Canada and Acadia; and the religious troubles 
which broke out under this reign contributed in a great measure 
to produce this result. The Sieurs d'Aunay de Charnise and 
De la Tour were at the head of a very considerable party of emi- 
grants. They attempted to found an establishment at Heve; but 
they afterwards removed to Port Royal, where they formed a union 
with M. de Pautrincourt's colonists. M. de la Tour afterwards 
detached himself, and founded an establishment upon the River 
St. John. But the rivalry which existed between these two 
chiefs was soon shared by their respective colonists. They made 
war against each other; and thus, by this absurd discord, de- 
stroyed all the fruits of their enterprise — the object of which had 
been to found permanent establishments, which ought to have been 
the only end of their common zeal. In these impious struggles, M. 
de la Tour was worsted, and then tranquillity seemed to be restored 
in the two settlements. 

M. de Charnise dying a few years afterwards, M. de la Tour 
returned to Port Royal, married the widow of his rival, and thus 
concentrated in his own hands a large share of the interests of the 
colony. 

The French settlements in America were at this time of 
but little importance. The principal ones were Port Royal, 
Tadoussac, and Quebec. These wretched posts were simply 
surrounded by a miserable palisade, their only defence against 
the Indians, or against the aggressions of freebooters, who then 
exercised a sort of right to pillage wherever they could attack 
with a superior force. Nevertheless, national vanity called these 
miserable hovels forts. The castle of Quebec alone had a stone 
foundation ; the basis of the others was earth. Scarcely fifty 
families could be found in the largest of these posts. 

Upon the whole line occupied by the French, small isolated 
stations or farms were to be found at great distances apart, where 
the fur trade was carried on w^ith the natives; but they were so 
bare of any means of defence, even against the Indians, that they 
rather added to the weakness of the French colony than to its 
strength. 

Moreover, an extreme want of energy seemed to characterize 
the creation and existence of these French establishments. This 
was the result of the system adopted by an exclusive colonization 
company created by Richelieu in 1626. This company had no- 



FOUNDATION OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 81 

thing but their own interests in view ; and their only object was 
to enrich themselves by the fur trade. Could it be otherwise, 
when, instead of that energy which freedom of action, free com- 
merce, and the formation of such an establishment as they desired 
would infallibly have given to the colonists, the great object sought 
was to smother the advancement of the colony by creating a mo- 
nopoly for the advantage of the few? And has France ever acted 
differently when the proposition has been made to her to found a 
colony in a foreign land ? 

Under the happy influence of the commercial genius of the 
Dutch, the colony of New Amsterdam augmented from year to 
year. The post of Orange had acquired importance because of the 
facilities it offered for carrying on the fur trade with the Indians. 
Active intercourse had been established, and valuable exports 
made under the Dutch flag. In fine, notwithstanding the hostile 
visit and the representations of Argall in 1613, the persevering 
Dutch, in 1623, permanently founded their new city of Amster- 
dam, the site of the present city of New York. From that period, 
new rural habitations, small, but gay and comfortable, presented 
at the point of Manhattan Island the appearance of a handsome 
village, protected by a blockhouse built upon the Battery, now the 
most beautiful promenade of the great American city. On Long 
Island, there were also some small farms, tenanted by the pioneers 
of Dutch civilization from the neighboring shore. 

In short, New Amsterdam had already fixed the attention of 
European speculators, in consequence of the value and import- 
ance of its exports, which placed her in regular communication 
with the mother country. 

The industrious activity of the Anglo-Saxons also gave a re- 
markable impetus to the colony of Southern Virginia, The colony 
of JVorthern Virginia alone, notwithstanding the influence of her 
patron, the Duke of Buckingham, the most powerful subject of 
that time, had, since 1620, made but little progress. At length, 
the Puritans, under the management of a certain Mr. White, ob- 
tained, in 1627, from the Virginia Company, by a cession of its 
rights, permission to establish themselves on this territory. 

But the Puritans, in their feeling of mistrust as to the legality 

of such a retrocession, thought it most prudent to make direct 

application to King Charles the First, who, in 1628, granted them 

new letters patent, with the privilege of making and adopting 

6 



82 AMERICAN POWER. 

the necessary laws and regulations for the government of their 
society. 

By this new charter, the colonies had the right of selling land, 
and of governing themselves according to their own laws. Their 
government was to consist of a governor, a deputy governor, and 
an administrative council of ten members, to be appointed the 
first time by the crown, and afterwards by the free members of 
the company. 

The executive power was vested in the governor and the 
administrative council; the legislative power was retained by the 
titular proprietors, or free members of the company. They were 
empowered to pass such laws as they might judge necessary for 
the w'elfare of the colony, provided, always, that these did not clash 
with those of the mother country. 

The company had obtained very large grants of property on the 
single condition of paying to the crown one-fifth of all the gold 
or silver that might be found on the plantations; for, at that period, 
it was still the prevailing opinion that the country contained mines 
of the precious metals, and this stimulated the spirit of enterprise 
which carried so many emigrants towards the New World. 

In the transaction of ordinary affairs, the governor and deputy 
governor, assisted by seven members of the council, composed a 
species of court, which held a session one day in each month. A 
general assembly of all the members of the company took place 
four times a year. The object of these quarterly assemblies was 
the admission of those who were qualified to all the prerogatives 
of free members of the company ; that is to say, to vote upon 
public business; to nominate public oflficers; and to make the 
laws and regulations necessary for the administration of the 
colony. 

The governor, deputy governor, and members of the council 
were elected by the General Assembly, which sat in the spring. 

Let us here remark that each member of the society, being 
entitled to a vote in the choice of a governor and members of the 
council, and in the making of all the laws, enjoyed this privilege 
by virtue of the common law of England. Hence, the charter 
of this company contained the fundamental principle of those 
public liberties which brought forward and assured the supremacy 
of democracy in the New World. 

But we must also observe that all the inhabitants of the colony 



ARRIVAL OF EMIGRANTS IN NEW ENGLAND. 83 

did not indiscriminately enjoy the right of voting. Universal suf- 
frage was then by no means admitted. To be entitled to a vote, 
it was necessary to fulfil certain requirements imposed by the 
colonists, always arbitrary, it is true, and often absurd and unjust ; 
but these requirements formed a part of the social compact under 
which they had united themselves, as a body politic and com- 
mercial, to re-establish the territory conceded by their royal 
charter. 

The new association of Puritans, under the title of Grand 
Cowicil of Plymouth, sent to America, in 1629, an expedition 
composed of five vessels, carrying more than three hundred ad- 
venturous emigrants. They arrived on the New England coast, 
near Cape Ann, on the 20th of July, and touched at a port, which 
they named Salem* — in allusion probably to the Holy Scriptures, 
or perhaps in allusion to that repose they came to seek. 

The emigrants, immediately after their arrival, constituted them- 
selves into a religious and political association. They adopted 
the disciplinary forms of the Independents, or Congregationalists, 
and formally declared their opposition to the forms and doctrines 
of the Episcopalians, or of the Established Church. This mani- 
festation gave, from the commencement, a particular impress to 
the civil institutions of these colonies. 

At the same period, the arbitrary and intolerant principles and 
the fiscal extortions of the ambitious Laud, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, in England, forced a great number of non-conformists to 
seek an asylum in New England. Among these emigrants were 
several titled and rich persons, who voluntarily exiled themselves 
with their families and their fortunes. Through their intervention 
and influence, an important modification was introduced into the 
administrative constitution of the colony. The charter of Charles 
the First placed the administrative and superior seat of the com- 
pany at London; it was transferred to America, and the superior 
administration was established in New England. 

This measure was a bold conception; its execution was still 
more important, inasmuch as it must necessarily exercise the 
greatest influence upon the future interests of the colony. 

The removal of the seat of administrative and executive power 
took place in 1630. At this period, fifteen hundred emigrants 

* Salmon, vol. iii. p. 537. 



84 AMERICAN POWER. 

arrived in New England. John Winthrop, one of the latter, was 
elected governor, and Thomas Dudley was one of a superior 
council composed of eighteen members. 

At this period, two new establishments were founded, one at 
Dorchester, and the other at Charlestown, on Charles River; but 
the inhabitants of Charlestown, having observed that the opposite 
side of the river afforded a more favorable position for the estab- 
lishment of a city, drove away, without any other right than their 
own will, a minister of the Anglican Church, who had there con- 
structed for himself a small retreat, and laid the foundation of 
Boston, destined to become the capital of the colony. 

Thus, through usurpation of property, was the capital of New 
England built — by emigrants, too, who had arrived with exalted 
religious ideas, flying, they said, from the violence and perse- 
cution they had suffered in their own country ! 

Singular disposition of man, who justifies in his own eyes acts 
which he reproves in others, as though whatever the object, the 
iniquity of the action be not the same ! 

The Puritan character, and its ruling spirit, were soon revealed 
in all their force from the very day the emigrants set foot on Ame- 
rican soil. In the promulgation of the regulations which were to 
govern the colony, two, among others, attract our particular notice. 
The one fixed the price of wheat; the other declared that the 
Indians should be deprived of all the lands they did not cultivate; 
and the colonists were forbidden, under pain of a heavy penalty, 
to sell them spirituous liquors or ammunitions of war. 

While the English were thus founding their first establishments 
in New England, the Dutch — who on their part claimed pos- 
session of the coast as far as Cape Cod, in virtue of discoveries 
made in their name by Captain Hudson — were actively extending 
their own on the shores of the Connecticut River. They had 
already, by following the course of this river, gone far into the 
interior, and had founded a post on its banks, the present site of 
Hartford. From this point they extended their commercial rela- 
tions with the Indians on the shores of the St. Lawrence, and 
thus created a diversion alarmingly injurious to the French in- 
terests in Canada. 

Founded on the same rights of discovery, they also planted 
settlements on the shores of the Delaware, where they had pur- 
chased from the natives a certain extent of territory. This colony, 



RICHELIEU FOUNDS A COLONY IN CANADA. 85 

however, existed but a short tirae ; it was destroyed by the In- 
dians. 

It was about this time also, 1626 or 1628, that Gustavus 
Adolphus, the most enlightened of the Scandinavian kings, con- 
ceived the idea of establishing a colony in America, which should 
be the refuge and the asylum of the persecuted of all denomina- 
tions. He founded a colonization society, in the formation of 
which people of all nations were invited to take part. This com- 
pany was to enjoy very extensive privileges. 

The French establishments in Canada made but slow progress. 
Quebec contained scarcely fifty inhabitants, most of whom were 
Franciscan priests; but the zeal of these missionaries for the 
conversion of the infidels was great; and Caron, Viel, and Sagard, 
who had already penetrated into Upper Canada, lived and estab- 
lished missions among the nations inhabiting the vicinity of the 
shores of the Niagara {Unghira). 

The company created by Richelieu, not fulfilling its engage- 
ments, was by a royal edict, in 1628, supplanted by a company of 
a hundred associates, among whom were Richelieu himself, Cham- 
plain, Rossilly, and many other rich and well-educated persons. 
This company took the name of the Company of JYew France. 
Its powers were immense. It could create, found, and form 
establishments throughout Canada ; fortify, and govern them at 
pleasure ; and make w'ar or peace. The whale and cod fisheries 
were free for all Frenchmen; but the company had the perpetual 
monopoly of the fur trade with the Indians. 

Titles of nobility were granted to twelve of the principal mem- 
bers of the society. The company had the privilege of trading 
free of duty ; and the advantages conceded by the crown extended 
so far as to permit the free entry of all manufactured articles into 
Canada — a remarkable advantage at a period when national in- 
dustry was depressed by numberless restrictions. 

The company, during the first few years, was to send from two 
to three hundred laborers to Canada, and thirteen thousand colo- 
nists within the space of twenty-five years. 

Unfortunately, its vessels, in their first voyage, w^ere taken by 
the English, then at war with France. This war resulted from 
the open intervention which the Duke of Buckingham had induced 
Charles the First to make in favor of the Protestants, who had 



86' AMERICAN POWER. 

taken refuge in La Rochelle, the last foothold of Calvinism in 
France. 

In consequence of these hostilities, caused by the jealousy ex- 
isting between the two ministers of France and England, nearly 
all our possessions in America became the easy prey of the Eng- 
lish, who were more numerous and better supplied with provisions 
than the French; for the posts in Canada, adorned with the title 
of forts, were nothing but miserable huts, without means of de- 
fence, and in want of everything. 

Quebec, thanks to the heroic energy of its generous and brave 
chief, Captain Champlain, although deprived of defences, resisted 
longer than any of the others; until finally the garrison, reduced 
by famine, was, in April, 1629, compelled to surrender. Though 
it was then the most important post of the colony, it numbered 
only one hundred inhabitants. We may judge, by its weakness, 
of the abandoned state in which it had been left by the French, 
at a time they should have displayed unanimity and perseverance 
in their means of defence and colonization. 

Louis the Thirteenth, however, having concluded a treaty with 
England before the fall of Quebec, Canada and Acadia were, in 
1632, restored to France by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, 
and the colony was enabled to resume its operations of coloniza- 
tion, which had been interrupted. This period of suspension was, 
nevertheless, a great check to the progress of affairs in Canada; 
and either from this cause, or from the incapacity of its chiefs, 
the company was under the necessity of applying for an extension 
of its prerogatives, which was easily obtained. 

The fact is that the system adopted by Richelieu, in colonizing 
our possessions in America, was clogged from its origin by a radi- 
cal defect. Its sole object was to favor the fur trade. Conse- 
quently, influenced by no other interest than that of individual 
aggrandizement, in subjection to the action of a monopoly which 
appropriated everything to itself, the government founded no es- 
tablishments with the object of fertilizing the country, of develop- 
ing its agricultural riches, or of felling its admirable timber, or 
even of increasing its population: it only sought to take military 
possession of the country, so as to secure the most favorable points 
for trade with the natives. 

Richelieu had directed all the resources in his power towards 
the accomplishment of this commercial system; hence the church, 



FRENCH SETTLEMENTS IN CANADA. -87 

through its missionaries, and the army by the sword, were his 
two most powerful auxiliaries, and the only means employed to 
obtain occupation of the country: the first, by the intervention of 
the faith to which the zeal of the missionaries sought daily to 
attach the red man; the other, by inducing respect for the power 
of French arms through frequent combats, in which the valor and 
the courage so natural to the French nation had a vast field for 
display. 

Numerous,but weak posts were then spread over a vast extent, 
always well chosen, but without certain means of communication ; 
because the five tribes of Iroquois, inhabiting the borders of Lake 
Ontario, the head waters of the St. Lawrence, the western part of 
New York and Lake Erie, intercepted the communication of the 
St. Lawrence with the upper lakes. Besides, the Indians, having 
clearly perceived the weakness of the system pursued by our 
government, made frequent successful irruptions on the establish- 
ments of the French pioneers. 

Champlain was a brave and skillful man, but too much led by 
the religious fanaticism of the times. For him, the salvation of a 
soul was worth an empire. Hence, all his efforts, and all his 
intelligence were directed towards the conversion of the natives. 
He unreservedly confided to the Jesuits the task of preaching the 
true faith to the infidels, and of organizing the frontier possessions 
of the French in America. His dominant thought was to establish 
a durable alliance with the Indians. To insure it he advanced his 
missions into the territory of the Mohawks and Hurons. In fact, 
the object of the French colony, at that period, was more particu- 
larly to favor the interests of the church than those of coloniza- 
tion. 

In 1635, a seminary for instruction was established in Quebec, 
the first institution of the kind created in America. During the 
same year, a charity hospital was founded; also an Ursuline con- 
vent for the education of girls. 

In 1640, Montreal was made the seat of a commercial station 
for the fur trade with the natives. At this period, the English had 
not yet approached the River St. Lawrence; but the Dutch, in 
possession of the shores at the mouth of the Hudson River, had 
established relations with the Five Nations, among whom it was 
then thought necessary to establish a mission post. 

In 1641, Charles Raymbault established the St. Mary mission, 



88 AMERICAN POWER. 

and thus opened a communication with the Sioux of the Missis- 
sippi. During the same year, the Ursulines obtained the titles of 
their establishment on the Three Rivers {Trois Rivieres). 

In the following year, the missionaries crossed from Montreal 
to Fort Orange, at the head of navigation of the Hudson River, in 
the direction of the course of Champlain canal, and there met 
the Dutch traders. In 1646, Gabriel Drouillet, the missionary, 
accompanied by a single Indian, crossed from Quebec, on the 
shores of the St. Lawrence, to the banks of the Kennebec River, 
where a French settlement had been formed; and thus traced 
through the forests of Maine the first path of a communication 
which, two centuries later, was to be effected by steam over a 
rail-road. Finally, in 1648, the brave De la Mothe-Cadillac, ac- 
companied by some zealous missionaries, reached Lake Superior; 
he explored all that immense inland sea, and predicted the future 
greatness of these fertile regions. 

That part of the peninsula, between Lake Huron and Lake 
Michigan, which they especially visited, was then inhabited by 
the Huron Indians, a great number of whom were at that early 
period converted to Christianity by the. Jesuit missionaries, who 
erected a chapel at the Falls of the St. Mary, and another on the 
Island of St. Joseph. 

The Hurons were almost entirely destroyed by the Iroquois, 
their implacable enemies. 

Finally, some Canadian hunters advanced as far as Green Bay, 
where they passed the winter. 

Notwithstanding the able efforts of the Jesuits, the colonization 
of New France on the borders of the Lakes, and particularly in 
the western part of New York, experienced great resistance on 
the part of the five tribes of Iroquois, in consequence of which the 
trade with the natives suffered exceedingly; whilst the inhabitants 
of Boston and Salem, as stirring, active, and industrious as the 
inhabitants of Canada were the reverse, deprived the Canadians of 
their fisheries, from which they also excluded the English. 

In 1655, the colony of Acadia lost its active and intrepid chief, 
M. de la Tour. He was succeeded by M. de Rochelle, one of 
his creditors, who abandoned these establishments to his two sons. 
At that time, when the colony was, as it were, without a chief, 
when a profound peace reigned, the inhabitants of Boston, who 
had always coveted this property, resolved to seize it. Appear- 



MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. 89 

ing before Port Royal with a considerable force, they succeeded 
in their attempt. Upon the representations of the French govern- 
ment, England disavowed the conduct of the Bostonians, and 
restored Port Royal. This circumstance led to the definite set- 
tlement between the two nations of the boundary of Acadia. 

Up to that period, France had the ascendency over the other 
European nations in the colonization of North America. If she 
had then been able to settle the western part of New York, and to 
insure to herself the outlet of the Hudson on the Atlantic, she 
might have been complete mistress of the whole country. Un- 
fortunately, the English had the supremacy on the coast, an 
advantage which they delayed not in confirming by depriving the 
Dutch of their colony, and thus rendering themselves masters of 
the important avenue, presented by the Hudson, from the shores 
of the Atlantic to the inland lakes. 



CHAPTER VII. 
1630—1700. 

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. 

Massachusetts Baij colony ; its rapid growth — The inhabitants publish a bill of rights 
— Political organization — Confederation of the New England colonies — New 
charter of William and Mary — The colony subjected to a provincial government 
— Extent of the new province — Connecticut and New Haven colony ; its govern- 
ment, founded on religious dogmas, a perfect democracy — Rhode Island colony 
— Foundation of Providence and Newport — The emigrations from England be- 
come more numerous — Cromwell about to embark for America; is prevented 
by a royal edict — The government of Rhode Island likewise founded in a 
spirit of pure democracy — The spirit of religious tolerance which distinguishes 
the inhabitants of this colony. 



MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. 

The Massachusetts Bay colony, although founded since that of 
Virginia, may, nevertheless, be considered as the stock from 
which have grown all the English colonies in America. It is, in 



90 AMERICAN POWER. 

fact, from the period of its foundation that we may date the rapid 
and uniform progress of those establishments by which England 
insured, in the seventeenth century, its permanent dominion in 
the New World, from Maine to Florida. 

This circumstance makes it, as it were, almost impossible to 
give simultaneously an account of the foundation and the early 
administrative measures of these colonies, however it might be 
abridged; therefore I have preferred, for the sake of perspicuity, 
and the interest of the object I propose to myself, to present a 
rapid exposition of the most important facts concerning each 
colony, from its origin to the period of its regular administrative 
progress. 

It was principally during the reign of Charles the First that the 
Massachusetts Bay colony so rapidly increased. Emigrants ar- 
rived in such great numbers that, in 1634, the free members of 
the colony judged it proper to proclaim a bill of civil and reli- 
gious rights, which they regarded as an inalienable endowment. 
They decreed, moreover, that the General Court — an assemblage 
of all citizens having a right to vote, of the governor, deputy 
governor, and members of the superior council — should have the 
exclusive power to pass laws, impose taxes, select candidates for 
public duties, and sell lands; that for the future each community, 
instead of voting in mass, should be represented at this court by 
two deputies, but that each free member of the colony should 
have the right to vote directly for public officers. 

Hence, from this period, the colony can no longer be considered 
as a company whose powers were defined, and the forms of go- 
vernment regulated, by a granted charter, but as a society having 
acquired or assumed a certain political liberty, and adopted of its 
own free will a constitution and form of government, copied, it is 
true, from those of England, but still essentially differing from 
them on many points. 

The first emigrants had brought with them an intolerable reli- 
gious despotism ; but they had also been instigated by a feeling 
of liberty, which was to survive their generation. Their emigra- 
tion to the New World was in itself a declaration of their rights. 
They came, guided by a conscientious feeling, to worship God 
agreeably to their convictions; they admitted, in fact, the freedom 
of political institutions, and equally enjoyed all civil rights. This 



GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY. 91 

political liberty gradually brought with it a corresponding degree 
of religious freedom. 

The Massachusetts colony became so flourishing, that, to facili- 
tate its administration, it was necessary to divide it into four coun- 
ties — Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. 

But the civil war that broke out in England towards the end 
of the reign of Charles the First soon checked its progress. Eng- 
land was afterwards stricken with a foreign war ; and the common 
danger to which the New England colonies were exposed made 
them feel the necessity, in 1637, of uniting themselves into a 
confederated body. 

The colony continued the administration of its affairs under 
this form of government until the year 1684, when Charles the 
Second completely modified the original charter granted by his 
predecessor; and from that time until 1691 the colony was in a 
state of continual misunderstanding with the metropolis. Under 
the reign of William and Mary, it received a new charter, w'hich, 
under the title of Province of Massachusetts Bay in JYew England, 
introduced a provincial administration. 

The new charter reserved to the crown the appointment of a 
governor and council. The governor, with the consent of the 
council, appointed the judges, the attorney-general, the associates, 
justices of the peace, the officers of the council and of the courts 
of justice. The other civil officers were elected by the council 
and General Assembly. The proprietors elected their repre- 
sentatives, who, having the right to select their presiding officer, 
formed the superior chamber. 

The General Court, with the same organization granted by the 
first charter, composed a court of equity and appeal, and was 
also a legislative body. 

The colony, under this new title, comprised, at that time, the 
territory of the old colony of Massachusetts Bay, that of the 
colony of New Plymouth, of the province of Maine, of Acadia or 
Nova Scotia, and of all the country between Nova Scotia and 
Maine. New Hampshire became a royal colony, attached to the 
government of Massachusetts, 



92 AMERICAN POWER. 



CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN COLONY. 

The Connecticut and New Haven colonies, now forming the 
State of Connecticut, had, in 1630, been granted by the Council 
of Plymouth to the Earl of Warwick. Charles the First con- 
firmed this grant, which, in 1631, was transferred to Lords Say, 
Brook, Scale, and others. 

In 1632, these new proprietors sent adventurers to reconnoitre 
the coast and interior of the country. Their expedition penetrated 
as far as Windsor; but the first establishments were founded by 
David Gardner, in 1635, at Saybrook, where about one hundred 
colonists were collected together. 

Several other companies, detached from the Massachusetts 
colony, established themselves at Hartford, Windsor, Wethers- 
field, and other places; but remained under the jurisdiction of 
the old colony, of which they became, as it were, the outposts. 

These several companies of emigrants adopted a form of go- 
vernment similar to that of Massachusetts, with the exception 
that two of the principal inhabitants of each burgh, or community, 
were sent to the General Assembly to represent them, according 
to the English usage. 

In 1638, the inhabitants of these new establishments, perceiving 
that they were not all comprised within the jurisdiction of Mas- 
sachusetts, determined to unite under one administration, bearing 
the title of Connecticut colony. For this purpose, all those who 
were entitled to a vote met at Hartford, and adopted a constitution 
similar to the charter of the Massachusetts colony, with the ex- 
ception that the General Court was convoked twice a year, and 
not but once, like that of the latter. 

The executive power of this colony was constituted on the 
same basis and principles as those of the Massachusetts colony. 
Justice was to be administered according to the established laws; 
in default of which, according to the word of God. The governor 
was to be annually elected, and ineligible the second year. 

The New Haven colony was founded, in 1638, by a small 
company of emigrants, who had arrived at Boston the previous 
year, under the control of the Rev. M. Davenport. Their religious 
opinions led them to isolate themselves, so as to secure a more 
tranquil observance of their peculiar principles. These emigrants, 



CONSTITUTION OF THE CONNECTICUT COLONY. 93 

adopting the opinion that the Indians were the sole legitimate 
proprietors of the soil on which they had just settled, purchased 
territory near New Haven, directly from the natives, where they 
founded their first establishment. 

Their form of government was based on the principles of their 
church, which with them held the first and most exalted rank. 
No one was permitted to vote who was not a member of the 
church, of which membership he was compelled to furnish proofs 
by a certificate which his own particular minister could alone 
give. Thus were the evangelical ministers both masters and 
administrators of this colony. 

In imitation of the primitive Christians, the colonists of New 
Haven adopted the principle of common property, the agrarian 
law, and equal distribution. 

An obligation was imposed on all civil or military employees 
to profess the Christian faith. Moreover, every citizen was alike 
an elector and eligible to office. The members were appointed 
in proportion to numerical population ; and magistrates as well as 
legislators were annually re-elected by a plurality of votes. Trial 
by jury was also introduced. 

All the colonists, but more especially the public officers, were 
compelled to attend divine service; and whoever failed in his 
religious duties was liable to severe punishment. 

The New Haven colony, like that of Connecticut, was admin- 
istered by an assembly, whose members were elected by the 
people ; but none except those who were members of the estab- 
lished church had a right to a seat ! 

The Connecticut and New Haven colonies continued this sys- 
tem of administration until the accession of Charles the Second, 
when, fearing their constitution was not firmly enough established 
by these precedents, the colonists implored its sanction by the 
crown, giving as a reason why they had not before solicited the 
royal favor, "that they had preferred dispensing with a royal 
charter to receiving one from an illegitimate prince!" 

In 1662, Charles the Second granted a new charter to the 
Connecticut colony, by which both the Connecticut and New 
Haven colonies were constituted under a single administration, 
similar to that of Massachusetts Bay. But the New Haven colo- 
nists refused to accede to the new dispositions of this charter 



94 AMERICAN POWER. 

until the year 1665, when they were finally and definitively 
united under one and the same administration. 

In 1665, the government of Great Britain, wishing to deprive 
the colony of certain privileges already conceded, demanded a 
return of the charter which had been granted to it in 1662. The 
colonists refused to return it; and notwithstanding all the crafty 
efforts made to obtain this original paper, it was effectually con- 
cealed from the servile agents of British power in the hollow of 
an old oak.* This passive but brave resistance of the people of 
Connecticut to the encroachments of the crown of England had 
a fortunate result. The colony, in 1688, officially recovered the 
free exercise of the franchises granted by its first charter, which 
it was enabled to preserve entire until the year 1817, when the 
constitution of the present State of Connecticut w^as revised. 

In 1698, an important modification was introduced into the 
administrative organization of the colony, two legislative bodies 
were created, and an executive power organized. Such were, 
from the commencement, the governmental form and institutions 
of the Connecticut colony. These remained in their integrity 
until the year 1817. This colony presented, consequently, dur- 
ing the whole period of its existence, the imposing spectacle 
of the most perfect democracy which has ever been organized. 
Founded on the principle of free labor, and favoring equality, the 
people w^ere truly the source of all power. But that people were 
Puritans! 

This colony persevered more strictly in its principles, and was 
less troubled with discussions concerning faith and religious 
dogmas than any other in New England; and we can easily, 
at this day, trace the influence which religious principles have 
exercised on the political and social features of this State. The 
fact is that religious ideas were rooted in the mind and heart of 
the inhabitants, as the earliest impressions of infancy are fixed 
in the heart and mind of man ; stamping a seal on his mature 
age, and teaching him to set aside bigotry, and to retain those 
profound feelings of right which alone can direct the soul, 
and preserve it from the contagion of social vices. Such has 
been the happy influence of Puritanism in Connecticut, whence 
it has spread over a great portion of the Union, exerting its 

* This oak is still standing, and recognized by all as the Charter Oak. 



SETTLEMENT OF RHODE ISLAND. 95 

powerful influence on the ruling spirit and enlightened religious 
feelings which at the present time characterize the American 
nation. 

RHODE ISLAND COLONY. 

The emigrants of the Massachusetts Bay colony had brought 
with them the seeds of religious discord, which very soon became 
manifest after their arrival. Their religious fanaticism soon car- 
ried them to much greater excesses of severity, and even of per- 
secution against their co-religionists and associates, than those 
to which they had been subjected on their native soil. 

A certain Roger Williams, of Salem, having, in 1635, pub- 
lished a profession of faith different, in its dogmas and discipline, 
from that of the founders of Boston, was tried at the bar of the 
General Court, and condemned to exile. Roger Williams, having 
collected his proselytes, emigrated with them to the southward of 
Massachusetts Bay colony, and settled near the head of Narra- 
ganset Bay. 

The founders of Salem and Boston considered themselves the 
legitimate proprietors of the Indian territory on which they had 
settled, in virtue of the royal charter granted by Charles the First. 
Roger Williams, on the contrary, looked on the Indians as the 
sole legitimate proprietors, having the right to cede or sell the 
lands on which he desired to settle. His first care, then, was to 
visit the country he had selected for the establishment of his 
colony, to create a kindly feeling on the part of the natives, and 
treat with them for the cession of a certain portion of territory in 
the vicinity of Narraganset Bay. It was after having fulfilled 
all these conditions, that Providence was thus founded by him in 
1636. 

Hence, neither violence nor cupidity had any part in the origin 
of Rhode Island, unlike that of the Massachusetts Bay colony. 

Some time after this, a new dissenter, named Hutchinson, was 
also banished, with his followers, from the Massachusetts colony. 
He joined the colony of Providence. From this union sprang the 
Colony of Rhode Island; the land had been purchased, in 1638, 
from the Indians. Newport was founded in 1639 ; but, fearing lest 
their title to this property, thus directly obtained from the Indians, 
would not suffice to resist the encroachments of their powerful 



96 AMERICAN POWER. 

neighbors of the Massachusetts colony, the people of Rhode Island 
determined to send Roger Williams to England to obtain from the 
crown a confirmation of their right. In 1643, through the Earl 
of Warwick, he obtained the grant which they solicited, and in 
1644 it received the sanction of the two Houses. Charles the 
First had, in the meanwhile, been driven from his capital. 

An historical fact, worthy of being here recorded, is that, about 
the year 1640, emigrations from England had become so con- 
siderable, that the king became alarmed, and issued a royal de- 
cree forbidding any one to go to America, without first having 
obtained a special permission from the authorities. Whilst this 
edict was in full force, in the midst of intestine wars which 
had armed one-half of England against the other, the principal 
malcontent chiefs who had engaged in the rebellion against Charles 
the First, among whom was Cromwell, were on the eve of emi- 
grating to America. It would seem that the latter had already 
embarked on board of a vessel anchored in the Thames, when he 
was stopped by the royal authority.* A strange example of that 
providential intervention which not unfrequently prompts man to 
act indirectly against himself! 

In 1647, the colonists organized their first assembly. To effect 
this organization, they had placed the legislative power in the 
hands of six commissioners, appointed directly by the constituted 
districts. This assembly sat also as a superior court. 

The executive power was confided to a president, assisted by 
four councillors, selected from the free colonists who were entitled 
to a vote. This council also performed the functions of a court 
of justice. 

Each district was also governed by a council, composed of six 
members elected by the people, thus forming a municipal council; 
so that the district and colony were administered on the same 
principle. 

Rhode Island had, therefore, like Connecticut, a democratic 
organization ; and these two colonies presented the singular 
spectacle of two democracies under the protection of a monarch- 
ical government, of which they acknowledged themselves to be 
dependencies! 

* The royal injunction extended to Lords Say and Brook, the Earl of 
Warwick, Hampden, Pym, and many others. 



PROVISIONS OF ITS NEW CHARTER. 97 

This form of government endured until 1663, when Charles 
the Second granted to the colonists a new charter, under the title 
of Rhode Island Colony and Providence Plantations — which were 
thus definitively united, and administered on the same principles 
as those which governed the colonies of Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut. This similarity in administration produced, from that 
time, more harmony between the colonies. 

The executive power, by the last charter, was represented by 
a governor, a deputy governor, and six councilors, elected and 
appointed by the municipal councils. 

The legislative power was intrusted to a General Assembly^ 
composed of a governor, a deputy governor, ten councilors, and 
a given number of members sent directly by the towns. The 
town of Newport sent six delegates; Providence, Portsmouth, and 
Warwick, each four ; and two were sent from each of the less 
populous towns. 

The General Assembly made laws, admitted citizens to the right 
of voting, appointed the public officers, established and regulated 
the courts of justice. It also had absolute control of the defence 
of the colony, and of the disposition of its resources for that pur- 
pose. 

But what especially characterizes the administrative progress 
of this colony is the tolerant spirit which it exhibited ; a spirit that 
has ever remained the fundamental rule of that happy country. 
The charter granted by Charles the Second contained this remark- 
able clause: "No one shall be called to an account, troubled, or 
punished for his religious opinions." Probably the first instance, 
by a royal act, of the introduction of the principle of religious 
liberty in the laws and institutions of the English colonies; an 
act which certainly does honor to the sovereign from whom the 
charter was derived. 

Nevertheless, the colonists sometimes swerved from this spirit 
of tolerance. It was decreed, for example, by the legislative as- 
sembly, that the Sabbath should be kept holy, and that no kind of 
labor or public amusement should be alloioed on that day. 

The charter of Charles the Second remained in full force until 
the Revolution, and now serves as the fundamental basis of the 
new constitution of this State. 
7 



98 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1623—1700. 

ENGLISH AND PUTCH COLONIES NEW AMSTERDAM, NEW YORKj 

NEW JERSEY. 

New Holland founded by Calvinists in New York Bay — Cromwell, the Protector, 
forms the project of taking possession of it — First popular assembly — The people 
retain the right of making laws — Rapid growth of New Amsterdam — A refuge 
for the persecuted and strangers from all parts of the world — Introduction of 
slaves — Tendency of the inhabitants of New England to emigrate, with the 
object of improving their condition — Charles the Second grants a part of the 
American territory, which he has already disposed of in favor of particular 
companies by letters patent, to his brother, the Duke of York — The English take 
forcible possession of the Dutch colony — The conquest insured to the crown of 
England by the treaty of Breda — Population of New England ; of Boston — New 
Amsterdam takes the name of New York; Orange that of Albany — Territorial 
extent of the New York colony — Colony of New Jersey ; its government organ- 
ized on the model of those of the colonies of New England. 



COLONY OF NEW HOLLAND OF NEW YORK. 

New Holland was founded, in 1623, on the shores of New 
York Bay, by Dutch Calvinists. Their habits of order, economy, 
toleration, and, above all, their love of commerce, were powerful 
agents in favor of the rapid growth of this colony ; and its capital, 
then known as JVew Amsterdam, became, from its earliest founda- 
tion, so important a mart of commerce on the coast of America, 
that it greatly excited the jealousy of the Anglo-Americans of 
Virginia and of the New England coast. As the crown of Eng- 
land had ever refused formally to acknowledge the rights of the 
Dutch to settle on the Hudson or its adjacent shores, claiming 
priority of discovery by Cabot, under Henry the Seventh, it always 
anticipated the future possession of this colony. 

In 1653, the Protector Cromwell formed the project of taking 
Jorcible possession of New Holland, but failed to put it in exe- 



COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 99 

cution. His son entertained the same wish, but also failed to 
accomplish any result. 

In 1653, the Dutch colony had so developed itself, that the 
inhabitants commenced to establish a regular government. A 
popular assembly met, which recognized the sovereignty of the 
people, and their legitimate and imprescriptible right to make 
their own laws. 

New Amsterdam had, in fact, become, under the influence of 
the mother country, the general rendezvous of emigrants from all 
parts of Europe, the place where the persecuted of every creed 
congregated. Then, as now, English, Dutch, French, Belgians, 
Germans, Swiss, Piedmontese, and Italians, were to be found in 
New Amsterdam — all led there by the same spirit of independ- 
ence and commercial enterprise. New Amsterdam, the city of 
strangers, already gave indications that, at a future day, it would 
become the great commercial emporium of America — the European 
bazaar of the New World. 

After the capture of La Rochelle by the troops of the king, in 
1656, the emigration of French Huguenots to New Amsterdam 
was so considerable that it became necessary to present the official 
publications both in French and Dutch. 

Let us remark that, near this period, the importation of African 
slaves contributed to introduce that odious system of slave labor, 
and that African race, whose unfortunate seal is so indelibly im- 
pressed on the national history of the Americans. 

In 1661, the Puritans of New England, finding in the social 
situation of their New Holland neighbors an aliment so favorable 
to their speculative and commercial instinct, entered into friendly 
intercourse with them, and soon, by their greater enterprise and 
ambition, compared with those of the quiet Dutch proprietors, 
possessed themselves of the most valuable offices among them. 

The influence of the English became so great in the Assembly, 
that it was decreed that the public acts should thereafter be written 
and published both in English and Dutch. 

This was the first and the most serious grasp at power, for the 
government of the colony had fallen into the hands of the Anglo- 
Americans. All that now remained for them to do was to sub- 
stitute the flag of Great Britain for that of Holland; which act 
was but a matter of form that could not long be postponed. 

In 1664, Charles the Second issued letters patent in favor of his 



100 AMERICAN POWER. 

brother, the Duke of York and Albany, by which he ceded to his 
royal highness, in fee, all that portion of the American continent 
which extends from the Kennebec to the St. Croix River, and 
all the territory between the western shore of the Connecticut 
River and the eastern shore of the Delaware, including Long 
Island. Hence, by the simple application of his signature to a 
piece of parchment, Charles the Second arrogated to himself the 
right of disposing of the legitimately acquired property of three 
nations — the French, Dutch, and Swedes. 

These patents conferred on the Duke of York all the powers 
necessary to a civil and military government ; that is to say, 
he could administer, pardon, or punish according to such laws 
as he felt disposed to establish, provided they did not conflict with 
those of England. In short, he could, according to the necessities 
of the case, proclaim martial law, the crown alone reserving to 
itself the right of appeal. 

The English government w^s so considerate as to publish these 
laws both in Dutch and English, the better to inform the colonists 
of the royal prerogative. But the Dutch did not submit to these 
new royal pretensions without opposing all the resistance in their 
power to so iniquitous an encroachment on their rights of property. 
Their efforts proved fruitless. 

Charles the Second appointed commissioners to act as a court 
of appeal in cases of dispute arising between the colonial govern- 
ment and the colonies. These commissioners visited Plymouth, 
Rhode Island, and New Amsterdam. They were authorized to 
treat for the cession of the latter colony to Great Britain, and to 
raise troops in the English colonies to strengthen by force her 
claims, should they be resisted. 

At the same time, the Dutch establishments and vessels were 
simultaneously attacked without any other declaration of war than 
the publication of the royal letters of Charles the Second. In the 
month of August, an English squadron, under the orders of Richard 
Nichols, anchored on the coast of New Holland, and summoned 
the capital to surrender, which, as it had no means of defence, 
immediately yieliled. His conquest was insured to England by 
the treaty of Breda in 1667. The Republic, however, regained 
its freedom in 1673; but a second treaty, concluded in 1674 be- 
tween England and Holland, confirmed the clauses of the treaty 



NEW HOLLAND CEDED TO THE DUKE OF YORK. 101 

of Breda, and restored to Great Britain those territories of which 
she had been for a short time deprived. 

Thus did England become definitively possessed of that splendid 
colony, whose creation was due to the powerful genius of the 
aristocratic Republic of Holland in its palmy days, and which, 
from its origin, had united all the elements of grandeur and pros- 
perity. Under the auspices of popular institutions, it w^as destined 
to attain its present supremacy, to which its Dutch origin con- 
tributed most powerfully. 

The population of New England, at this period, amounted to 
one hundred and twenty-three thousand inhabitants, sixteen thou- 
sand of whom were able to do military duty. Boston alone con- 
tained a population of twelve thousand. It did not contain a 
single profane house, nor even a dancing school. 

After the English had taken possession of New Holland, New 
Amsterdam received the name of New York; and Orange, at the 
head of navigation of the Hudson, that of Albany, which is now 
the capita] of the State of New York, The Duke of York, doubt- 
ing the validity of his first letters patent, applied for new ones, 
which were granted to him. These confirmed the powers with 
which he had already been vested, and prescribed, besides, that 
the colony should not carry on commerce without the express 
sanction of the crown, nor import English goods, except by sub- 
mitting to the duties established in the mother country. 

The province was governed by the Duke of York under this 
charter, until he ascended the throne of Great Britain. 

Long Island and JVew Jersey were then included in the territory 
of New York, as well as the Swedish colonies on the Delaware, 
which had fallen into the power of the Dutch in 1655. 



NEW JERSEY COLONY. 

When the Duke of York became proprietor of the colony of 
New York, in 1674, he divided the territory which had been an- 
nexed to it between his two favorites, under the name of JVew 
Jersey. 

The eastern portion was conceded to Sir George Carteret ; the 
western portion to Lord Buckley. These gentlemen sold this 
property to speculators, who, with great energy, commenced the 



102 AMERICAN POWER. 

foundation of new settlements. The administration of the colony, 
however, remained under the authority of the two first proprietors, 
and of their heirs; but they soon became tired of so unfruitful an 
enterprise, and, in 1688, restored their rights to the government 
of Great Britain. The crown accepted the restitution. 

In the course of this year, the council appointed by the pro- 
prietors, but not the elect of the people, resolved to restore the 
government of the colony, with its archives, to the Secretary- 
General of the Possessions of New England. 

By this act of the superior council, the New Jersey colony 
passed under the control of New York, during the period of the 
Revolution in England. It was thus placed for nearly twelve 
years under the direct administration of the crown. 

In 1703, this colony was definitively constituted, under a go- 
vernment of its own choice. It adopted, in all respects, consti- 
tutions similar to those of the other colonies. 



SWEDISH COLONIES. 103 



CHAPTER IX. 

1628—1700. 

ENGLISH AND SWEDISH COLONIES DELAWARE, PENNSYLVANIA, 

MARYLAND, AND NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA COLONIES. 

Swedish colony 0/ De/aioare, projected by Gustavus Adolphus, founded by Oxenstiern, 
and established upon the liberal principles which especially characterize religious 
toleration — Brief existence of this colony — Its invasion by the Anglo-Saxons of 
New England — Colony of Pennsylvania founded by William Penn ; it receives 
a popular government founded on religious toleration. — The Delaware colony 
organized and administered by English laws. — The Maryland colony founded by 
Lord Baltimore and Catholic emigrants; adoption of a popular government, 
based upon religious toleration and instruction — Conspiracy of the Protestants — 
Persecution of the Catholics — Situation of the colony in 1763. — Colonization of 
North Carolina, founded principally by emigrants from New England — Lord 
Clarendon, prime minister, proprietor of a vast domain in America, projects the 
creation of a landed aristocracy; consults the celebrated philosopher, Locke, 
relative to the form of a constitution adapted to his new empire of America — The 
emigrants select for themselves a popular government, and the system of Loclie 
is abandoned, — Colony of South Carolina; founded by Joseph West at Beau- 
fort — Popular government adopted by the first emigrai^ts — Introduction of the 
representative system — Charleston founded — Scotch emigration — Intestine diffi- 
culties — Governor Colleton wishes to enforce martial law, but the inhabitants 
resist — William and Mary recall Colleton, and the representative system prevails 
— Consequences deduced from this chapter, and precedents relative to the pro- 
gress of the English colonies on the American Continent, to the exclusion of the 
rival nations who had there established themselves, with rights based on a more 
equitable foundation. 



SWEDISH AND FINLAND COLONIES — COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

In the early part of the seventeenth century — near the time that 
Dutch industry was about to point out, with its rare commercial 
perspicacity, the spot on the New Continent destined to be, at a 
future day, the great commercial emporium of the New World — 
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, conceived the generous idea 
of creating in America a colony that should serve as a place of 



104 . AMERICAN POWER. 

refuge to the proscribed of all nations. But the honor of realizing 
this noble conception was reserved for the celebrated Oxenstiern. 
In 1638, an expedition, under the command of Captain Minnits, 
a very experienced Hollander, who had already resided in Ame- 
rica, was fitted out to transport to the shores of the Delaware a 
number of emigrants, for the most part Germans, of all denomi- 
nations, and a certain number of Swiss families, with positive 
injunctions to purchase the land they required from the natives. 

The expedition landed on the shores of Delaware Bay, then 
known as the South River ; the Hudson was known as the JYorth 
River. Captain Minnits, according to his instructions, purchased 
lands from the Indians, near Trenton, on which he founded an 
establishment ; he formed another at the mouth of Christina 
River, in Delaware. A fort was built at the latter point for the 
protection of the colony, called Christiana, in honor of the young 
Queen of Sweden. He afterwards formed a third settlement, 
called Elzimburgh; and a fourth, Gottenburgh. All these estab- 
lishments are now within the State of Delaware. 

The Dutch, who claimed the right to these lands on the Dela- 
ware, founded on prior discovery and establishment, protested 
against these new arrivals; but beyond these representations their 
demonstrations of resistance did not extend. 

The iSwedish charter was exceedingly liberal. Above all, it 
w'as marked with a rare spirit of toleration; consequently, the 
Swedish establishments soon acquired importance. Some Dis- 
senters, from New England, finding they could satisfy their ardent 
passion for gain more easily among the German, Swiss, and other 
emigrants who had taken refuge on these shores, than among their 
fellow-citizens of the North, incorporated themselves with them; 
and, as far back as 1646, an entire quarter of the city of Phila- 
delphia was already settled by a mixed population of Swedes and 
Anglo-Americans. 

The Swedish colony was governed by the first charter of Gus- 
tavus Adolphus for nearly seventeen years, notwithstanding the 
opposition of the Dutch, and especially that of their more active 
neighbors, the emigrants of the Anglo-Saxon race. 

In 1655, the Swedish establishments on the Delaware passed 
under the authority of the Dutch. Their government was also 
made directly dependent on that of the Dutch, then in possession 
of New York. 



SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 105 

When New York became the property of the English, the estab- 
lishments on the Delaware became subject to the new govern- 
ment, notwithstanding this territory was held directly by a grant 
from the Maryland colony. This state of things lasted until Penn 
established his colony of Pennsylvania, and purchased directly 
from the Duke of York the territory of the present State of Dela- 
ware. 

Such was the short duration of the second Scandinavian colony 
planted on the Continent of America, which, more fortunate than 
the first, left more durable traces of its presence in the commercial 
history of the State of Delaware, but especially in that of the rich 
State of Pennsylvania, where the imprint of the Scandinavian and 
German races has been indelibly preserved. 



PENNSYLVANIA COLONY. 

In 1681, Charles the Second conceded to William Penn all the 
establishments on the Delaware, and all the lands claimed to 
be under the jurisdiction of the government of New York. The 
principal conditions embodied in the charter granted to William 
Penn were, that the new province should be called Pennsyl- 
vania; that its proprietor and his successors, in their functions as 
governor, with the consent of a majority of the free men of the 
colony, or of their representatives assembled, might lay taxes to 
meet the public expenses; and that they might establish tribunals, 
appoint judges, and make laws, always provided these laws should 
not come in conflict with those of England. 

The representatives had also the power to lay duties on import- 
ations. The transfer of property was free. In short, the crown 
engaged not to lay taxes or duties without the consent of the 
popular assembly, or without a special act of Parliament. 

The territory conceded by this charter embraced all the country 
along the Delaware, extending from a point fifteen miles to the 
north of Newcastle to a line drawn from the sources of this river 
to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, and extending to the 
west five degrees of longitude from its eastern boundaries. 

William Penn purchased portions of the territory of New Jersey 
from Lord Buckley and the heirs of Sir George Carteret, which 
he incorporated with his own domain. 



106 AMERICAN POWER. 

Desirous of giving his colonists a government in conformity 
with the wishes of the majority, he acknowledged, in 1682, a 
fundamental compact between them and himself, by which he 
perpetuated the rights and liberties of the people. 

By virtue of this constitutive act each emigrant who became 
possessed of property acquired the same rights and privileges as 
the oldest inhabitants. He was an elector and eligible to office, 
without regard to his birth or religion. 

The government was composed of a council of state and a 
popular assembly. The governor was president of the council. 
The members of the assembly were annually elected by the peo- 
ple. No tax could be raised without the consent of two-thirds of 
the members of both houses. The popular assembly fixed the 
time of the elections, the duration of the sessions, and that of the 
offices. The judiciary body was also subject to the legislative 
assembly. 

Hence, the people were the source of all power, of all office, 
and absolutely governed themselves even before the grantee had 
given his sanction, in conformity with the charter derived from 
the king. 

In 1690, Penn returned to the colony. He approved all these 
new dispositions; but to secure the spirit of the charter, a new 
constitution was to be formed, adopted, and approved by the pro- 
prietors. 

This new constitution restored the executive power into the 
hands of a governor and a council of state, appointed by the 
proprietors. The governor remained president of the council. 

The legislative power, with the right of first proposing laws, 
was confided to a popular assembly, annually elected by the 
people. The time of the elections and commencement of the 
sessions were fixed by law. The length of the sessions depended 
on the will of the assembly. 

The people elected their sheriffs and coroners. 

Questions concerning the right of property were decided by the 
parties in conflict, or by the council. 

The judiciary remained dependent on the legislative assembly. 

Liberty of conscience was assumed as a principle. The offices 
were free to every citizen professing Christianity. 

Thus did Penn improve the government of his colony. 

He instituted an executive power, emanating from the people. 



COLONY OF DELAWARE. 107 

since all the minor officers were elected by the people. The 
judiciary power depended upon the people for its existence; from 
them also was derived all legislation. He would have neither 
an armed police, forts, militia, an established church, nor differ- 
ence of rank. An entire freedom of opinion existed upon all 
subjects. In short, he had truly created an asylum — a place of 
refuge for the proscribed of all nations. 

Thus, towards the end of the seventeenth century, did Penn 
raise the most splendid social monument which it was in the 
power of man to create. He founded a popular government on 
the true principles of liberty, to which the inhabitants of Penn- 
sylvania owe the happiness and prosperity which they at present 
enjoy. 

Still, the political organization of Pennsylvania presented the 
singular spectacle of a mixture of the principles of feudalism and 
democracy. The colonists acknowledged the right of the found- 
ers and their heirs to be their governors and proprietors. They 
admitted a right paramount, and of transmission ; but they re- 
quired, for the creation and execution of the laws, the sanction of 
the people, the only source of power, and the sole means of legal- 
izing rights and harmonizing their action. 

It is an interesting fact, that the first public mail was esta- 
blished, in Philadelphia, in the year 1695. At that time, letters 
were transmitted three times a year from Philadelphia to the south 
of the Potomac. 

DELAWARE COLONY. 

At the time of the invasion and occupation of the New Holland 
colony by the English, in 1664, the settlements founded on the 
shores of the Delaware by the Finlanders and Swiss, under the 
protection of the charter of Gustavus Adolphus, were considered 
part of the government of the New York colony. The claims of 
the crown of England to this territory, and to the establishments 
formed on it, were maintained by the Duke of York, who had 
become its proprietor. The government of New York, which had 
made careful preparations with the view of encroaching on the 
Delaware, had obtained direct influence on the inhabitants through 
the medium of numerous emigrants who had incorporated them- 
selves with them. It took advantage of this influence to introduce 



108 ' AMERICAN POWER. 

a provincial government at Nevi^castle, dependent on that of New 
York. By this means English laws, vigorously put in operation, 
eventually became the laws of the colony of Delaware. 

In 1683, William Penn, who had succeeded in establishing 
himself on the banks of the Delaware, purchased this territory 
from the Duke of York; thenceforth it became subject to an ad- 
ministrative government, dependent on the Pennsylvania colony. 

In 1691, the Delaware colony constituted itself into an inde- 
pendent government, acknowledged by William Penn. Thus, 
towards the close of the seventeenth century, was the Delaware 
colony, nearly at the same time as that of Pennsylvania, organized 
as an independent democracy, having its own executive power, 
its popular legislative assembly, and a judiciary subject to this 
assembly. 

MARYLAND COLONY. 

The present State of Maryland formed a part of the Virginia 
.colony until 1632, when, by a royal charter granted on the 20th of 
June, it was detached from it. This grant was made to Cecilius 
Calvert, in the name of his father, George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, 
in Ireland, who had formed the project of founding a colony in 
America, as an asylum for his persecuted co-religionists. This 
colony received its name from Henrietta Maria, daughter of 
Henry the Fourth, and wife of Charles the First. 

The extent of country ceded by this charter, under the name 
of Maryland, was much greater than the present territory. It 
was bounded to the south by a line drawn from a headland on the 
Chesapeake, called Watkhi's Point, to the ocean ; to the east, by 
the ocean and the western shore of the Delaware Bay as far as the 
fortieth degree of latitude; to the north, by a line drawn from this 
parallel westward to the meridian of the principal source of the 
Potomac River; and from this point, following the west banks of 
this river, to Smith'' s Point, and finally to WatJdri's Point. 

It will, therefore, be seen that these boundaries included the 
present State of Delaware, a part of Pennsylvania, half of Chester 
county, as far as the Schuylkill River, and a considerable portion 
of Virginia. 

The question concerning the limits of this colony was the cause 
of many troubles and violent strife between its inhabitants and 



COLONIZATION OF MARYLAND. 109 

those of the adjacent settlements; and these disputes were not 
finally settled until 1818. 

The expedition for colonizing the lands ceded to Lord Bal- 
timore was confided to Leonard Calvert, one of his sons. On 
the 22d of November, 1633, he sailed from the Isle of Wight with 
two hundred emigrants of note and fortune, principally Catholics. 
On the 24th of February, he landed at Point Comfort, in Virginia, 
where now stands the fortress which commands the entrance into 
Hampton Roads. 

The expedition again put to sea for the purpose of exploring 
the Chesapeake Bay; ascended the Potomac a distance of forty 
leagues (one hundred and twenty miles), as far as an Indian 
village called Piscataway ; returned and anchored at the mouth 
of the Potomac in a splendid bay, which they named St. Mary; 
and, on the 22d of March, 1634, they finally landed on a spot 
w^here they determined to found a permanent settlement, near an 
Indian village Yaocomaco, to which they gave the name of St. 
Mary. The proprietors of the Maryland grant spent, in less than 
three years, more than four hundred thousand dollars (two mil- 
lion francs) on this establishment. 

The population of Maryland, in 1660, amounted to twelve 
thousand inhabitants, most of whom were planters of tobacco. 
This product served the colonists as a medium of exchange for 
all the necessaries of life. But, in the year 1686, the legislature 
of Maryland authorized a new monetary standard, which was 
received through all the colony instead of the English pound 
sterling. The other colonies followed this example, and a colo- 
nial thus replaced English currency. 

The colonists who had sailed with Calvert belonged, for the 
most part, to a class of emigrants distinguished for knowledge, 
and for elevated and liberal ideas. Hence, they adopted a form 
of government modeled on that of England. They instituted a 
council, resembling that of the House of Lords, composed of the 
most distinguished members of the colony; and a lower house, 
composed of members appointed directly by the inhabitants of 
each district. 

It was declared, by law, that no individual should be tried, 
troubled, or molested on account of religious opinion. Thus, the 
Maryland emigrants, by making their colony a real place of re- 
fuge, where each individual could render homage to his God 



110 AMERICAN POWER. 

according to his belief, provided always that he was a Christian, 
gave the first striking testimony of religious toleration in the New 
World. A beautiful and great example, which does honor to the 
Catholics of those times, against whom all the other sects had 
combined; a circumstance, too, the more remarkable, because in 
New England the Puritans, who had fled from their homes in con- 
sequence of their religious opinions, persecuted themselves their 
Protestant fellow-citizens. And in Virginia the Episcopalians ex- 
hibited the same severity towards the Puritans — their associates 
in the great task of enlightening the New World. 

In consequence of these persecutions, a great number of dis- 
senting Protestants from New England and Virginia removed to 
Maryland, where they felt extremely happy in escaping the in- 
tolerance of their fellow-citizens, and increased the resources and 
prosperity of the new colony. 

Another circumstance, which does equal honor to the enlight- 
ened spirit of the founders of Maryland, was the immediate adop- 
tion by the legislature of a resolution which set apart a certain 
portion of the colonial domain to create a school fund, out of 
which all the children of the colony were to be gratuitously edu- 
cated. 

Thus, the same men, who had just established for themselves 
and their descendants liberty of conscience and of opinion, did 
not overlook instruction — the most important of all wants of the 
citizens of a democracy! 

In 1689, the Maryland colony w^as powerfully convulsed by a 
Protestant insurrection against the Catholics; and, in 1692, it 
passed under the authority of the crown of England. Sir Lionel 
Copley was appointed its governor. The first acts of this new 
political chief were to establish the supremacy of the Anglican 
Church, and to impose a tax on the inhabitants in favor of the 
clergy. At this period, both Catholics and Quakers were perse- 
cuted. 

St. Mary then contained from sixty to seventy houses, and a 
Catholic church which had been buffered to fall in ruins. The 
construction of this edifice, then an imposing monument for 
America, had cost forty thousand pounds of tobacco — a very con- 
siderable price at that period. This church was replaced by an 
Episcopal chapel. 

In 1710, the seat of government, which had always been at 



SETTLEMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, HI 

St. Mary, was transferred to Annapolis, whose foundation, as well 
as that of mail establishments, dates from that period. The popu- 
lation of the colony was then about thirty thousand. In 1763, it 
amounted to one hundred and sixty-five thousand, twenty thousand 
of whom were convicts from England. 

The colony produced about twenty-eight thousand hogsheads 
of tobacco, valued at three and a half million francs (seven hun- 
dred thousand dollars). Its importations may be estimated at four 
million francs (about eight hundred thousand dollars). At this 
early period, the manufacture of iron was commenced. Eight 
furnaces and nine forges were built, which produced annually 
three thousand five hundred tons of pig and six hundred tons of 
bar iron. 

Such was the situation and such the resources of the Maryland 
colony when the famous struggle with England for civil liberty 
commenced. 

NORTH CAROLINA COLONY. 

The Anjjlo-Saxons established in New England had brought 
with them that spirit of emigration which so eminently distin- 
guishes them from all other races of men — a spirit which had 
powerfully contributed to make that colony the parent, as it were, 
of all the establishments of America. 

In 1663, a small colony of emigrants from New England had 
settled near Cape Fear, on a river of that name, and entirely 
beyond all the English settlements in Virginia. Carrying with 
them the principles of liberty and independence, these colonists 
claimed the right of self-government and self-administration upon 
lands which they had purchased directly from the natives. 

The Virginians, stimulated by the same spirit of emigration, had 
also extended their explorations, immediately after their arrival 
in America, to lands known as Southern Virginia or Carolina; 
and, in 1663, they had founded, on Albemarle Sound, establish- 
ments under the direction of a certain George Callmaid. 

In June, 1665, Clarendon, the famous historian, and the devoted 
minister of Charles the Second, though hated by the people, ob- 
tained a royal charter, which granted to him and his associates 
all the territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, 
and ranging from the twenty-ninth to the thirty-sixth degree of 



112 AMERICAN POWER. 

north latitude. This territory included all North and South 
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Arkansas, a great part of Florida and Missouri, and nearly all 
Texas, with a large portion of Mexico! This vast empire became 
their immediate property. They had the power to make laws, 
but not without the consent of the freemen, the future inhabitants 
of the colony. Their privileges were the same as those conceded 
to the proprietors of Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

An important clause in the charter acknowledged the liberty of 
conscience. Another had reference to the advantages attached to 
the introduction of the colonial system into the ports of the colony. 
The proprietors were at liberty to create titles, constitute domains, 
counties, baronies, and to establish a nobility with titles difTerent 
from those in England. In short, everything indicated the founda- 
tion of a vast empire in America. 

The celebrated John Locke had been requested by Shaftesbury, 
one of the proprietors, to draft a system of government for the 
colonists; but the speculations and doctrines of that eminent phi- 
losopher, the fruits of elaborate labor in the closet, were found to 
be totally at variance with the requirements and exigencies of 
those for whom they were prepared. 

Locke's visionary dream was the creation of an aristocracy upon 
American soil; but this soil could only be made to develop a pure 
democracy. Therefore the new constitution, adopted by the eight 
proprietors in 1670, could never be put in force in the colony. 

The inhabitants of Albemarle, at that period, more numerous 
than at any other point, adopted simple forms and laws, strictly 
in harmony with their necessities. The first popular assembly 
was held in 1667, in the county of Albemarle. 

North Carolina was, for a long time, considered the rendezvous 
of all who had good reason to fly their country. Emigrants were 
found there from all countries — English, Scotch, Irish, French, 
Germans from the Palatinate, and Swiss. The latter founded the 
town of New Berne, upon the River Neuse. 

The government of the colony remained for a great number of 
years subject to that of South Carolina, from which it originated. 
Notwithstanding the difficulties under which this colony labored 
in establishing an independent and stable form of government, 
and notwithstanding the turbulent spirit which long characterized 



FOUNDATION OF CHARLESTON. 113 

its inhabitants, who were strangers to each other, it still increased 
more rapidly than South Carolina. 



COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The first settlements of this colony owed their origin to the 
speculative spirit of its proprietors; but increased only after the 
inhabitants had established for themselves an independent admi- 
nistration. 

In 1670, a certain number of emigrants, under the guidance 
of Joseph West, had settled at Beaufort; but, not finding this 
locality advantageous, they had abandoned it, and founded an- 
other establishment on the nearest highlands of Ashley River. 
They immediately formed their administration upon the basis of 
liberty and independence, and inaugurated their representative 
system in 1672. 

But Shaftesbury had not renounced the hope that the principles 
of the constitution drawn up and revised by Locke would yet 
prevail in the colony. The result proved the error of his judg- 
ment; for, while the superior council in London approved this 
constitution, the popular representation in the colony opposed it 
strenuously. Hence, South Carolina owed its political existence 
to a rupture between the partisans of the Established Church and 
the Reformers. 

In 1680, the emigrants, finding that the position of their settle- 
ment on Ashley River was very unfavorable in a commercial 
point of view, determined to form an establishment at the conflu- 
ence of Ashley and Cooper Rivers. To their new town they gave 
the name of Charleston^ in honor of King Charles the Second. 
The population of this town increased rapidly, by reason of the 
influx of white emigrants and slaves, which had left Barbadoes 
under the guidance of Sir J. Yeamans. 

The growth of this colony was greatly favored by the political 
and religious intolerance which, about this period, weighed so 
heavily upon Scotland, as well as by the arrival of a number of 
Dutch emigrants from New York, after its conquest by the 
English. 

England and Ireland also furnished their quota of emigrants; 
and France, where the revocation of the edict of Nantes had 
8 



114 AMERICAN POWER. 

just given to the Huguenots a fresh blow, furnished this colony, 
as well as other quarters of the globe, and even England, with its 
choicest blood, in relation to industry and intellectual culture. 

At all points of the American Union, we can at this day see 
living proofs of the fatal emigration which impoverished France, 
and enriched other nations ; but this emigration was most consi- 
derable in South Carolina and Virginia, where its influence was 
mostly exerted over the morals of the country, in preserving the 
intelligent, impassioned, and liberal stamp of their French origin. 

The population of this colony was further augmented, at a some- 
what later period, by inhabitants from Acadia, who were trans- 
ported to Charleston by order of the English government, which 
had despoiled them of their property. 

From 1685' to 1690 the colony experienced great internal diffi- 
culties in consequence of the pretensions and fiscal exactions of 
the proprietors, through the medium of Governor Colleton. But 
though disposed to employ military force to compel the execution 
of his will, he could not find in the country, fortunately for the 
colony, any organized troops, except the citizen soldiers ; and 
these, strongly opposed to such acts of violence, took part with 
the people. 

Upon the accession of William and Mary, Colleton's powers 
were revoked, Seth Sethell was appointed in his place, and the 
representative system was re-established. This form of govern- 
ment ever after prevailed without interruption. 

In 1691, the government of the colony established a system 
of national defence, to protect the inhabitants from the incursions 
of the Indians and Spaniards in Florida, founded arsenals, created 
a revenue, and admitted the French Huguenot refugees to a par- 
ticipation of all the rights of citizenship. 

In 1693, it was decided that the legislative assembly should 
meet twice a year — a system which, with slight modifications, 
exists at the present day. 

The form of the governmental administration resembled that of 
Maryland. 

The proprietors appointed the members of the superior coun- 
cil. The people elected the members of the assembly. The 
defence of the country was confided to the militia. 

The people rejected the principles which the Revolution o£ 



ENGLISH COLONIZATION OF THE NEW WORLD. 115 

1688 had still preserved in England — namely, the recognition of a 
nobility, and the legitimate right to power, conferred by property. 

The rights of political franchise were granted to all the inha- 
bitants, indiscriminately, and without reference to their religious 
opinions ; but the Established Church was recognized as that of 
the province. 

The cultivation of rice, by slave labor, which became one of 
the principal productions of the soil, was introduced into the 
colony towards the end of the seventeenth century. 

We may conclude, from the preceding remarks, that it is in 
the seventeenth century that the English made the most fortunate 
and persevering efforts to colonize the New World — where, starting 
from a single point, affording them scarcely a foot of soil, they 
gradually extended their influence from Maine to Florida, a ter- 
ritory including twelve degrees of latitude, founding, in their pro- 
gress, twelve distinct colonies: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North 
and South Carolina — and that each of these movements has been 
marked, first by the invasion of the soil of the natives, then by the 
invasion of the territory of the French, Dutch, and Swedes. 

At the close of the seventeenth century, the population of the 
New England colonies amounted to one-half of that of all the 
other English colonies, then estimated at about two hundred and 
fifty thousand, and was ten times more numerous than that of 
New France, with which it was in a constant state of contention. 

The consequence of these contests, provoked as much by the 
desire of obtaining the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the 
fertile regions of the west, as by hatred of the doctrines and prin- 
ciples professed by the Canadians, was that the three colonies of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York formed an offensive 
and defensive compact, in which the Governor of Massachusetts 
took the initiative. This congress was held at New York. 

Hence, Massachusetts, which has given birth to several States, 
now very justly claims the honor of having given the first idea of 
the Jimerican Union. 

The question of the conquest of Canada was discussed, during 
this congress, as a measure in which the prosperity of the three 
colonies was equally interested ; and a plan of campaign was 
devised. 



116 AMERICAN POWER. 

Thus, these colonies, whose governments were based upon the 
principles of pure democracy and of liberty of conscience and 
opinion, found in themselves, and in their organization, means 
not only to maintain order within their own limits, but also to 
project the conquest of a foreign colony without the assistance of 
England. 



CHAPTER X 
1660—1671. 



FRENCH COLONIES CANADA, OR NEW FRANCE. 

Parallel drawn between the origin of the French and that of the English colonies 
— La Molhe-Cadillac — Zeal and courage of the missionaries — Levying of tithes 
by the clergy — West India Company — M. de Tracy — Renewal of hostilities by 
the Iroquois; by the AngloAmericans — Attack on Port Royal — Freedom of trade 
restored to Canada — New coin put in circulation — It is replaced by paper money 
— Marquette establishes the post of St. Mary — Convocation of the Indian na- 
tions at St. Mary — The intendant Talon — Posts founded on Lakes Ontario and 
Erie — French names designate the principal geographical points of the north- 
west — Establishment of Fort Cataracouy, also called Frontenac. 

We conceived it necessary to suspend the historical sum- 
mary of the colonization of New France in 1660, that we might 
exclusively take up that of the English colonies, the history of 
which we have brought down to the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. We shall now continue our narrative from the point at 
which we left off, and bring it down to the same period. Pre- 
liminary to this, however, we shall briefly contrast the methods 
of colonization pursued by the English and French, relative to 
their respective establishments. 

What particularly strikes us, in the progress of the English es- 
tablishments in America, is that England has always granted her 
people full liberty to emigrate to her colonies, by themselves and 
for themselves, whatever may have been their religious belief. 
Hence, among these colonists private interest has, from the com- 
mencement, induced a degree of enterprise and industry wholly 
unparalleled. This energy secured the success of the colonies, 



ENGLISH AND FRENCH COLONIZATION CONTRASTED. 117 

and was the primary cause of the present prosperity of the 
American Union. 

France, on the contrary, had long deliberated upon the plan of 
an establishment in America, before she took any active part in 
colonization : she assumed to foresee everything, to order every- 
thing, to regulate everything. She could not be induced to rely 
upon the conduct and intelligence of the colonists, whom she 
reproached with narrow-mindedness. Catholics only were re- 
ceived in her colonies. 

The Anglo-Americans at first devoted themselves to agriculture, 
which they constantly extended and improved, despite the spirit 
of conquest, invasion, and even of spoliation, which so often im- 
pelled them against the natives, or Europeans, whose rivalry they 
feared. Their commercial enterprises began at a later period. 

The French government, which, from its immutable principles 
of administration, directed everything in America as in France, 
instead of encouraging the colonists in cultivatingthe soil, thought 
only of the advantages to be derived from the fur trade, and of 
the means by which that trade might be augmented. The only 
port in France which received direct profit from this source was 
Marseilles. 

Hence, the establishments of New France were created in a 
spirit altogether military, with the avowed object of obtaining 
the greatest possible monopoly of the fur trade with the natives. 
As a consequence of this system, all the colonists, without excep- 
tion, owed blind obedience to a purely military authority. 

The progress of laws being unknown among the colonists, the 
arbitrary will of a governor, of his lieutenants, or of his com- 
manders of posts, was an oracle from which there was no appeal. 
Entire submission was expected and enforced. 

The government held the power of pardon and punishment, of 
advancement and dismissal; so much so, that it could make the 
people believe that its caprices and even tyranny were acts of 
justice. 

Absolute power extended not only to subjects belonging to the 
military service or to the political administration, but to the civil 
jurisdiction. The governor arbitrarily decided every case that 
came before him, without appeal. This authority was maintained 
until 1663, when a judicial tribunal was created at Quebec. 



118 AMERICAN POWER. 

Parisian customs, modified by a few local combinations, served 
as a code of laws for the colony. 

It may easily be conceived that, under such a system, it was 
difficult for these establishments to flourish : hence, notwith- 
standing the zeal and courageous devotion of a few individuals, 
New France made but little progress. While a military despot- 
ism and religious fanaticism paralyzed the activity and indus- 
trial energy of the French colonists, freedom of conscience and 
opinion gave a powerful impulse to the adventurous spirit of the 
English, who were soon able to wrest from the French the fish- 
eries on the grand banks, and their fur trade, even at their very 
doors. 

In 1660, the enterprising and intelligent La Mothe-Cadillac 
established a post at Detroit, whose advantages, he foresaw, were 
so great as to insure the trade with the Indians of the interior, 
and control that of the lakes. The Jesuit missionaries had already 
a perfect knowledge of the admirable communication presented 
by this chain of lakes. They had, in their indefatigable zeal, 
planted the cross upon the borders of the Wabash, named by 
them St. Jerome, and upon the Mississippi ; and numerous tribes 
of natives came in crowds to listen to their persuasive words. 
Wherever these pious soldiers of the cross penetrated, they in- 
stalled a mission, and raised a chapel, which served also as a 
boundary to the vast domain conquered for New France. It was 
at this period, and in this manner, that the posts and missions of 
Michilimakinac, the Bay of St. Joseph, Fond du Lac, and the 
Sault St. Marie, were founded. 

By means of their zeal and perseverance, they succeeded in 
creating among the Indians a marked predilection for the French. 
On the one hand, the missionaries studied the language of the 
Indians, and adapted themselves to their character and inclina- 
tions ; in a word, they used all proper means to gain their confi- 
dence. On the other hand, the French colonists, far from teaching 
their savage brethren the manners of Europe, assumed those of 
the countries they inhabited — their indolence in time of peace, 
their activity in a state of war, and their love of a wandering and 
vagabond life. In short, a great number adopted their habits of 
life, and continued to dwell among them. 

The colony of New France owed its origin, in a great measure, 
to religious influence; consequently, in 1663, the clergy demanded 



SETTLEMENTS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE ATTACKED. 119 

and obtained of the ministry in France one-thirteenth of all the 
benefits of the land, the produce of the soil, and of the labor of the 
colonists. This taxation, intolerable in a country still so sparsely 
settled, lasted four years, when the superior council of Quebec, 
in 1667, assumed the responsibility of reducing it to one-twenty- 
sixth. 

The titles of the company created by Richelieu expired in 1663. 
Their lordships of Mew France then tendered their resignation to 
Louis the Fourteenth. They had enriched themselves, but had 
done little for the real advancement of the colony, and New 
France, the child of monopoly, was only relieved from this in- 
cubus to be pressed down by another under the form of the West 
India Company, created, in 1664, with privileges extending over 
a period of forty years. Louis the Fourteenth, however, con- 
sented to take the country under his royal protection. He sent a 
regiment to protect the colony from the attacks of the Indians, 
and appointed Tracy viceroy, Courcelles governor, and Talon 
intendant of civil affairs. 

The king's troops arrived very opportunely; for the Indians, 
instigated by the English, greatly alarmed the several French 
establishments on the St. Lawrence, and on the shores of the 
lakes. They pillaged and destroyed everything that lay in their 
route. Falling suddenly upon a few huts, they massacred all 
their inhabitants. The panic had reached its height among the 
French establishments. So great w*as the daring of the Indians 
that they had several times boarded small vessels, laden with 
merchandise, even under the walls of Quebec. 

The Governor of Canada, resolving to attack the Mohawks dur- 
ing the winter of 1665, marched into their country amidst the 
greatest privations and fatigues. But the Indians had abandoned 
their forests, and the expedition was unattended with any im- 
portant results. Fort Chably was founded during this march. 

But this augmentation of force restored the advantage which 
the French had lost over the Iroquois, who were thus compelled 
to make peace. By the treaty concluded with this nation, it was 
stipulated that their territory should remain forever attached to 
the domain of New France. 

War having been declared, in 1666, by Louis the Fourteenth 
against the English, in favor of Holland, the commencement of 
hostilities completely checked the commerce of Canada. The 



120 AMERICAN POWER. 

Anglo-Americans, profiting by the opportunity this circumstance 
afibrded to enable them to appropriate to themselves the trade 
with the Indians, managed their operations with exceeding adroit- 
ness. They offered the natives for their furs merchandise of better 
quality and at lower prices than the French factors could afford. 
In fact, with the French, the monopoly of buying and selling was 
in the hands of the agents of the West India Company, whilst 
with the English trade was entirely unrestricted, that is to say, 
all the colonists participated, in an equal degree, in its benefits. 
Competition produced a fall in the price of merchandise, and 
liberty thus killed monopoly. 

Port Royal was again attacked by a considerable force, and 
taken; but it was restored at the peace of Breda in 1667. 

In 1668, the West India Company, not having complied w^ith 
the obligations attached to their prerogative of monopolizing the 
commerce of the French possessions in America, was constrained 
to renounce this privilege, and from that day commerce, thus 
opened to all Frenchmen, soon received a salutary impulse. 

But the colonies were then almost without financial resources; 
for, if the monopoly had enriched a few chiefs, the mass of the 
colonists were without means. To relieve them from a condition 
so disadvantageous, it was proposed to manufacture a new coin 
for all the establishments in America, with an ideal value one- 
fourth higher than the specie circulating in the metropolis. This 
expedient did not realize the advantage it promised; and paper 
money was necessarily substituted for the payment of the troops, 
and for other expenses of the government. 

In 1668, the missionary, James Marquette, established the 
mission of St. Mary. By reason of his relations with the Indians 
on the shores of the Mississippi, and the information furnished 
him by his companion. Father Allouez, he formed the project of 
the discovery of this river, which he executed in 1669. 

The natives called this river Messipi, or Meschasipi, which 
signifies river everywhere — from the word missi or minsi, every- 
where, and sipi, river; because, when this river overflows its 
banks, its waters inundate the whole valley. According to the 
Illinois, this river also bore the name of Meschagamisi, or more 
frequently Messesipy or Meschasipy, all river, or great river. The 
French named it, alternately, Colbert River, St. Louis River, and 
Barbauches River. 



EXTENSION OF FRENCH INFLUENCE. 121 

In 1670, under the administration of the intendant Talon, and 
through the intervention of the agent Perrot, a meeting of the 
native tribes was called at the St. Mary's mission. Its object 
was to propose a vast plan for the extension of French domination 
to the most distant points of the American continent. It was 
announced to the various tribes which met there from the borders 
of the Missouri, Mississippi, Wabash, and Arkansas, that there- 
after they would be under the protection of the great king. Thus 
was determined by the action of the military chiefs, assisted by 
the Jesuits, their zealous companions, the extension of the French 
empire in the New World from the mouths of the St. Lawrence to 
the mouths of the Mississippi. At this grand epoch in the history 
of France, the feeling of national honor was all-powerful among 
the people and chiefs of the State ! Military posts were established 
at Detroit and at Michilimakinac; and the Indian trade on the 
borders of the Mississippi was insured against the depredations 
and attacks of the Iroquois. 

New establishments were founded during this year on Lake 
Ontario and Lake Erie, which had been explored some years be- 
fore. The French officers and missionaries had been particularly 
struck with the advantageous position of Lake Erie, as the centre 
of communication between the St. Lawrence and the chain of 
upper lakes, by the occupation of which they would have the 
control of the trade as well as of the native hordes who lived 
on their shores. At this period in the history of the French colo- 
nies, every effort tended to the same object — the extension and 
strengthening of French domination in America. 

At that time, France had attained a rank and an ascendency 
among the European powers which gave to the national feeling 
an energy which animated all classes of men. The effect of this 
feeling upon the chiefs of the colony of New France was highly 
salutary. 

Every new step they took in these unknown regions was marked 
by an honorable seal of their conquest. French names every- 
where marked the places they had surveyed, and the points where 
they made settlements. 

In this way, the names of Si. Louis and Frontenac were given 
to Lake Ontario, and that of Conti to Lake Erie. Ontario, in 
the language of the Iroquois, signifies beautiful lake. They also 
named it Skenin-Donig, very beautiful lake. Erie, or Erige, or 



122 AMERICAN POWER. 

Ericke, which they sometimes designated by the name of Tcice- 
harontiong, signifies Cat, the name of the nation that lived on 
its borders. 

The name of Orleans was given to Lake Huron,* also called 
Kenegnondi, or Algonkin Michigauge. 

Lake Michigan, named Dauphin^ was also known as Lake of 
the Illinois or of the Illinouach, or of men — the word Illinois 
signifying a mature 'man. The Miami nation, who frequented 
the borders of this lake, often gave it the name of Mischigonong, 
or Great Lake. 

During the entire period of French domination. Lake Superior 
was known as Lake Tracy or Conde. 

In 1671, the post of Frontenac, at the mouth of little Catarocouy 
Bay, was founded. It is situated where Lake Ontario empties 
into the River St. Lawrence, and was designed to protect the 
commerce of the lakes, and that of the St. Lawrence; to cover a 
communication from the lakes with Quebec; and to defend an 
excellent anchorage, where the boats and canoes could take shel- 
ter. These small vessels formed, at that time, all the merchant 
marine and navy of those countries. 

Kingston is now built upon this post, one of the most important 
cities of Upper Canada, communicating directly with Montreal by 
the Rideau Canal and the Ottowa River. The distance between 
these two cities is two hundred and forty miles, and may be ac- 
complished by steamboats; while by the St. Lawrence navigation 
was only practicable for small boats. 

* Huron is of Canadian origin, and was given to the Indians living on 
that lake, because of their burnt hair, which made the head look like that 
of a wild boar. 



DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 123 



CHAPTER XI. 

1671—1700. 

FRENCH COLONY NEW FRANCE. 

Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet — Voyage of Robert Cavalier 
de la Salle — Discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi — He establishes the post 
of the Illinois, and indicates the line of posts necessary to unite his new discoveries 
with the Canadian domain — Critical situation of Canada; M. de la Barre assem- 
bles the notables — Policy of the Indians towards the Europeans — M. de Denon- 
ville — M. de Champagny — Montreal almost destroyed by the Iroquois — The 
English colonies project the conquest of Canada — Attack and fall of Port Royal 
— Montreal and Quebec are also attacked, but resist — Port Royal retaken by the 
French — Post of Nekoat on the St. John — M. de Frontenac governor; he finally 
compels the Indians to make peace — Territorial extent of the French and Eng- 
lish possessions — Population of these colonies. 

We now come to one of the most interesting periods in the 
history of the colonies*of New France, to that when the majestic 
Mississippi, until then unknown, was explored through its whole 
course by one of those brave and zealous missionaries, whose faith 
led them daily to expose their lives for the salvation of a soul. 

Great and brilliant period, when religious faith, combined with 
patriotism, induced the sons of France to undertake the most 
laborious enterprises with the utmost disinterestedness! 

In 1673, Father Marquette, a Jesuit, with soft and bland man- 
ners, and the Sieur Joliet, an inhabitant of Quebec, a very intel- 
ligent and brave man, undertook their expedition for the discovery 
of the Mississippi. These two gentlemen, equally active, enter- 
prising, and devoted, left Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, accom- 
panied by five Frenchmen and two Miami Indians, acting as 
guides and interpreters. On the 10th of June, they entered the 
Fox River, which empties into the lake, ascended it to its sources, 
and embarked on the Wisconsin, through which they reached the 
Mississippi. Descending this river, they passed the Moingona, 
now the Des Moines, in Iowa territory, some leagues below the 
mouth of the Missouri, known by the Algonquins as Pekitaroni, 



124 AMERICAN POWER. 

and, after sailing to the south several days, they passed the mouth 
of the Ohio, then known as the Wabash, after the Indian tribe 
which inhabited its borders. This magnificent river was also 
called Hohio, Oua-Bous-Ki-Qua, or Akou-Ssa-Sipi, the beautiful 
river. 

They continued their navigation of the Mississippi, in the midst 
of innumerable islands, which often led them to doubt whether 
they were not in a great lake instead of a river. They at last 
reached the mouth of a large river, flowing from the west, the 
Arkansas, when, their provisions growing short, they were com- 
pelled to retrace their steps. They reascended the Illinois River, 
which Father Marquette named Divine, so astonished was the 
party with the stillness and smoothness of its waters. At a later 
period, it received the name of Governor Seignelay. They reached 
Green Bay in the month of September. Two years after this in- 
trepid adventure. Father Marquette, already advanced in life — his 
constitution broken by long and excessive fatigues, privations, and 
abstinences — but ever zealous in his faith, undertook a journey 
from Chicago, on Lake Michigan, to the post of Michilimakinac. 
When this venerable father placed his foot on the shore, he 
advanced a short distance into the woods, according to his pious 
custom, to offer his tribute of devotion* to God. When his 
companions approached him, to continue their journey, he had 
ceased to live. He had calmly expired in the midst of prayer, 
in the presence of his God! The river, on the shores of which 
Marquette ended his pious and laborious career, is in Michigan, 
and to this day bears his name. 

About this period, Robert Cavalier de la Salle conceived 
the project of journeying overland to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Through the intervention of M. de Seignelay, and the favor of 
the minister Colbert, the king gave his consent to the enterprise. 
In this memorable journey, he was accompanied by his devoted 
friend. M. de Tonty, an old tried soldier, who had lost his hand in 
Sicily. These bold and fearless explorers left Fort Frontenac, on 
Lake Ontario, the 7th of August, 1679, on board of a decked 
vessel of sixty tons, the first sail vessel that had ever ploughed 
the waters of this inland sea. After having overcome innume- 
rable difficulties, and escaped the great dangers that the traveler 
must necessarily encounter in an unknown country, among In- 
dian hordes, on whose dispositions no dependence can be placed, 



CRITICAL SITUATION OF THE FRENCH COLONIES. 125 

they at length arrived, on the 7th of April, 1682, in sight of the 
Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi. About the 
15th of July, of the same year, they had returned to Michili- 
makinac. 

In the course of this expedition, they erected Fort Crevecoeur 
on the borders of Lake Pimiteoni, part of the Illinois River, which 
was afterwards called Fort St. Louis. Fort Prud'homme was 
constructed one hundred and eighty miles above its mouth. The 
post of Arkansas was founded by M. de la Salle ; Fort Chicago 
on Lake Superior ; and Fort St. Louis upon the Chicago River, 
near the Aramoni. Finally, the post of Kaskaskia, or Concep- 
tion, the seat of a Jesuit mission, became an important station in 
the progress of the French towards the west. 

While the French were extending their conquests over the vast 
solitudes of the western countries, there was a complete stagna- 
tion of all kinds of business in the colonies. The resources of 
the country were not sufficient to cover the expenses of merchan- 
dise received from Europe, which was of the last importance to 
the colonists. 

The extreme activity of the inhabitants of New England, and 
their intimate knowledge of business, induced them to venture 
wherever they could realize a profit; consequently, they antici- 
pated the French everywhere in their trade with the natives. 
Hence, resulted the great indebtedness of the Canadian colonists 
to the mother country. 

In this critical situation, the Governor-General De la Barre 
consulted the country upon the measures most likely to obviate 
these difficulties. He convoked a provisionary legislative coun- 
cil called the JYotables, submitted to them the languid condition 
of the colony, and asked an expression of their opinion. Under 
such circumstances, it might have been expected that the colo- 
nists would have prayed for franchises and commercial freedom, 
as means of giving new life to their society. But no! After long 
deliberation, they decided upon addressing a petition to the king, 
praying for a stronger garrison in Canada ! 

Strange conclusion ! which singularly contrasts with the exam- 
ples of independence and courage set them by the inhabitants of 
the English colonies, even from the very infancy of their social 
and political life in America, and especially with that act of in- 
dependence and strength which marked the history of the English 



126 AMERICAN POWER. 

colonies. At the period these colonies were projecting the con- 
quest of Canada, without the assistance of the mother country, 
the French were imploring the power of the metropolis to protect 
them against a few Indians ! 

In fact, what could be expected from men, transplanted from 
the European to the American soil, with ideas of military hie- 
rarchy, administrative subordination, dependence upon a chief, and 
religious submission? These, it is true, made them enlightened 
subjects, but not enlightened citizens! 

With the English emigrant, the principle of political liberty 
had been imbibed before departing from his native land, and on 
his arrival upon American soil, his institutions naturally assumed 
a democratic form. With the French emigrant, the principles of 
absolute power, military and religious despotism, had been trans- 
ferred, in all their vigor, from the metropolis to the colony of 
New France. England had left her colonies to organize them- 
selves more or less according to their pleasure. France had fash- 
ioned Canada after its own image, and had bestowed upon it its 
manners, laws, language, and temper. 

Canada could, at that time, place at least three thousand men 
under arms, a number almost equal to that of the Iroquois war- 
riors ; but the Iroquois were freemen, while the inhabitants of 
New France were crushed by despotism and monopoly. The Iro- 
quois recruited their force by adopting prisoners taken from other 
nations. No foreigner or heretic could settle in Canada. Hence, 
the war with these warlike natives had continued from the first 
settlement of the French on the continent, and did not cease till 
about a century afterwards, when this brave tribe had almost en- 
tirely disappeared. 

On the arrival of the Europeans, the Indians, without distrust, 
had hailed them as friends, brothers, and guests ; they soon per- 
ceived, when it was too late, that these guests became their mas- 
ters, and could not be driven away ; that, besides, they were con- 
stantly menaced with the dispossession of their heritage. Never- 
theless, they discovered that these guests belonged to two different 
castes, very jealous of each other. From that instant, they deter- 
mined to profit by the hatred which divided the two rival nations, 
and resolved that, since they could not succeed in expelling the 
Manetonakis, Europeans, they would at least manfully oppose 
their future encroachments. With this object in view, they 



M. DE CHAMPIGNY S ADMINISTRATION IN CANADA. 127 

ceased to employ their own strength favorably or adversely to 
either party. Thus, in 1684, observing that the French were 
gaining too great an ascendency over the English, they detached 
themselves from the former, and joined the opposite party. 

Governor de la Barre, with the object of chastising the Iroquois, 
placed himself at the head of six hundred soldiers, four hundred 
followers, and three hundred garrison troops, and made an expedi- 
tion to Fort Sable, which occupied a position near the outlet of 
the present Rideau Canal. But the diseases incident to the month 
of August, in those marshy and swampy countries, so decimated 
his little army, that he was obliged to abandon this post, and 
treat with the Indians. 

In 1685, M. de Denonville succeeded M. de la Barre, and ar- 
rived in Canada with fresh troops. The animosities existing be- 
tween the inhabitants of New England and those of New France 
daily increased, and soon reached to such a pitch that the con- 
quest of Canada became clearly the design of the Anglo-Ameri- 
cans. Their desire to possess this beautiful country was stimu- 
lated by their hatred of legitimacy, and of the ancient forms of 
Christianity of which the Canadians were the representatives in 
the New World. These various passions of the inhabitants of 
New England were so violent, that they served as a common tie 
between the mother country and its colonies, relative to the ag- 
gressive projects which had long been entertained by the crown 
of England against the French possessions in America. 

In 1686, M. de Champigny succeeded M. de Denonville as 
Governor of Canada. Under his administration, the post of 
Niagara was established, for the purpose of controlling the move- 
ments of the Iroquois upon the lakes ; and the post of St. Charles, 
at the mouth of the Illinois River. These two forts completed 
the system of occupation of the newly-conquered territory of the 
Indians. Champigny's object was, first, to furnish advantageous 
positions against the Indians. Secondly, to protect and extend 
the fur trade. Thirdly, to circumvent the English colonies, to 
confine them to the shores of the Atlantic, and prevent them from 
making a descent upon the tributaries of the great Valley of the 
Mississippi, and thereby keep them from advancing towards the 
west. 

This system had been adopted and pursued from the first 
occupation of the country. For this plan, the French were prin- 



128 AMERICAN POWER. 

cipally indebted to the superior genius and rare intelligence of La 
Salle, who, having anticipated the future state of New France, 
attempted, from the commencement, to secure his dominion upon 
the two great valleys of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, and 
consequently, upon the most beautiful and important portion of 
the American continent. 

These views were certainly very expansive. The plan was 
vast, the dispositions judicious ; but the colony needed a popu- 
lation capable of sustaining so extended a line, and the garri- 
sons of regular troops at those posts were so weak that the Eng- 
lish traders dared to penetrate into the French territory, and 
traffick with impunity in sight of the post of Michilimakinac. 

They had been obliged to abandon Fort Bourbon upon the 
River Therese, in Hudson's Bay. This place, by the private 
enterprise of the English, had been immediately re-occupied in 
1689, and named Fort Nelson. 

In August, 1689, a very numerous party of L'oquois made a 
descent upon Montreal, which, being feebly defended, was taken 
and almost entirely destroyed. 

This irruption was instigated by the colonists of New England, 
whose every thought and act had immediate relation to the con- 
quest of Canada. 

Finally, the English colonies, with the object of putting their 
plan in execution, conceived the idea of a congress. This con- 
gress was suggested by the Governor of Massachusetts, and was 
held in New York. Its object was to secure an alliance of the 
colonists against the Indians, to protect their frontier. 

At this congress, it was resolved to undertake the conquest of 
Canada ; and that, for this purpose, an attack should be made 
upon Montreal, through Lake Champlain, while an expedition by 
sea should be directed against Quebec. 

In 1690, Port Royal was attacked, and, being poorly defended, 
was easily taken. The establishment of Cheboucto, now Halifax, 
was also seized, and settled by freebooters. But the attack by land 
on Montreal, as well as that upon Quebec, resulted less fortunately 
for the English colonists. The combined fleets of Boston and 
of England, composed of thirty-two sail, carried two thousand 
men, recruited in New England. Boston had also sent a land ex- 
pedition, guided and supported by'the Iroquois. When these forces 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA. 129 

arrived in sight of Quebec, the Indians, by a return of their 
capricious policy relative to the two rival nations, suddenly re- 
fused to second the views of the Anglo-Americans. The with- 
drawal of the Iroquois determined that of the Boston militia, and 
Quebec again escaped the covetousness of the Anglo-Americans. 

In 1691, a single French man-of-war succeeded in retaking 
Port Royal. The post of Nekoat was established upon the River 
St. John ; and the French government projected the recapture of 
Newfoundland, by sending some vessels and fresh reinforcements 
to the posts in Acadia. 

In 1696, the English attempted to capture the post on the River 
St. John; but were repulsed with loss. 

This year was equally fortunate for French domination in Ca- 
nada. M. Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, then Governor- 
General of New France, undertook an expedition, in the month 
of July, against the Iroquois, and succeeded in reducing them to 
complete subjection. At length, the peace of Riswick, signed in 
1697, caused a cessation of calamities in Europe, and of hostili- 
ties in America. 

Thus, at the close of the seventeenth century, France had the 
incontestable right of property, not only to New France, Acadia, 
Hudson's Bay, and Newfoundland, but also to one-half of Maine, 
Vermont, and New York, to all the valley of the Mississippi, and 
Texas as far as the Rio del Norte, by reason of the discoveries of 
La Salle. After the peace of Riswick, she retained all Hudson's 
Bay, and all the places in her possession at the commencement 
of the war. That is to say, with the exception of the eastern half 
of Newfoundland, France retained one-half of all the coast from 
Maine to Labrador, Hudson's Bay, Canada, and all the valley of 
the Mississippi. 

Upon the coast, England claimed as far as the River St. Croix, 
and extended her supremacy to the capes of Florida. The French 
claimed a part of Maine as far as the Kennebec. 

The boundaries of the province of New York were more diffi- 
cult to settle. The French claimed all the western part of the 
territory, which they had conijuered from the Iroquois, the original 
proprietors of the land. 

In fine, the preponderance of French arms extended over three- 
fourths of the American continent, that is to say, over a territory 
9 



130 AMERICAN POWEPx,. 

comprising more than four hundred and fifty million hectares* 
which communicated directly by the St, Lawrence with the At- 
lantic, through the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico, and extended 
from the chain of the Apalachian or Alleghany Mountains, on the 
east, to the borders of the Pacific Ocean. 

The territory occupied by the English, including about ninety- 
one million hectares, was situated between the principal chain 
of the Alleghanies and the shores of the Atlantic, and extended 
along the coast from Maine to Florida. 

The territory of Florida, included in this estimate, was, how- 
ever, occupied by the Spaniards ; but its population exercised 
only a feeble influence. 

The domination of France was based upon the occupation of 
a few posts scattered over this immense territory, with a popula- 
tion of about twelve thousand inhabitants. That of England was 
firmly settled upon a territory three times less extensive, but with 
a population twenty times greater than that of the French. 

In short, the principle of absolute monarchy had succeeded in 
founding, in the course of a century, through the influence of the 
army and of the clergy, a colony of twelve thousand inhabitants ; 
while the democratic principle had, by its mighty moral influence, 
created, in the same time, twelve distinct colonies, with a popu- 
lation numbering two hundred and fifty thousand, united by the 
same social tendencies, and the same desire for conquest. 

* A little more than two French acres. — Tr. 



FERTILITY OF THE WEST. 131 



CHAPTER XII. 

1700—1750. 

FRENCH COLONIES NEW FRANCE. 

Settlement of Detroit by M. la Mothe-Cadillac — The Canadians refuse to pay the 
titlie — Governor Collieres — De Vaudreuil — Canal near Montreal — Renewed 
hostilities in America — Attack on Port Royal — Expedition against Acadia — Cap- 
ture of Port Royal — Attack on Quebec — Peace of Utrecht — Commencement of 
the wars for commercial advantages — Settlement of Breton, or Royal Island — 
Brotherhood of St. Sulpiciua — Sieur Vincennes — Colony of the Isle St. John 
— Fortifications of Louisburg — Lewistown — Charlevoix in America — Posts of 
Toulouse, Dauphin, and Nevieka — Bed of coal in Acadia — Quebec and Mon- 
treal; their importance — M. de Varendry crosses from the borders of the St. Law- 
rence to the Pacific coast — Foundation of Halifax — The people of New England 
contemplate the conquest of New France — Capture of Port Royal — M. de la 
Galissonniere adopts means of resistance against the encroachments of the An- 
glo-Americans — Ohio officially taken possession of — Colonization of the western 
countries — Population of New France ; its resources ; its revenues. 

The colonization of New France, under the Count de Fronte- 
nac, advanced with rapidity. Emigrants were principally sent 
to the western regions, the importance of which had just been 
appreciated. 

In fact, nothing can be found, in Europe, comparable with 
these regions, as to richness and fertility of soil. Situated in the 
temperate zone, they are watered by numerous rivers, for the 
most part navigable for great distances, and connected, through 
an inland sea, with the Atlantic by the New York canals, and 
with the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi and its tributaries. 
This country abounds in vast prairies, immense forests, and wild 
fruit trees. Luxuriant vines form a dense shade, which shelters 
the bison and the wild bull, deers, hinds, and a multitude of the 
feathered tribe, such as the pintado or guinea fowl, the pheasant, 
the lark, the partridge, the woodcock, the turtle dove, and green 
parrots, smaller than those of the islands. 

The rivers are covered with swans, wild geese, ducks, teal, 



132 AMERICAN POWER. 

and bustards. It is a chance if these aquatic birds will get out 
of the way to allow your boat to pass. 

The forests produce trees of an immense and majestic growth, 
and as straight as an arrow, the pecan tree, the white oak, the 
red oak, the hickory, the ash, the cotton tree, the tulip tree. The 
proud eagle soars incessantly over these giants of the forest. 

Detroit received a garrison of one hundred men, and its govern- 
ment was confided to M. la Mothe-Cadillac, then commandant 
of Mackinaw, who had a direct grant of it, on condition that he 
would there form a settlement. To appreciate the importance of 
this grant, it must be known that it extended from Lake Erie to 
Lake Huron, running one hundred and sixty-five miles along the 
Detroit River. In addition to the French, he invited some Indian 
tribes, which he had had the address to attract around him and bind 
together, to settle on his territory, so as to secure his authority 
over the Indians as well as the body of his colonists. 

He had, according to their number, made different grants to 
his settlers. For example, to a large family he gave from four to 
six acres fronting the Detroit River, and twenty-five acres extend- 
ing into the woods; to lesser families, two acres front by twenty- 
five in depth. 

The land thus granted to the Indians was to belong to them 
only so long as they should remain on it. Should they change 
their residence, the property was to return to the domain of M. 
de la Mothe-Cadillac. 

M. de la Mothe also possessed in fee simple the Island of Mount 
Desert, on the coast of Maine, nearly forty-two miles in circum- 
ference. It was wrested from him by the English, as well as his 
fisheries, hunting grounds, commerce, and his freehold of Port 
Royal. 

This system of apportioning lands existed throughout New 
France. The lords had the large, the laborers the small shares. 
Moreover, the conditions entered into with the working classes 
were such, that these gifts offered poor encouragement to settlers; 
because they were, for the most part, liable to fines, and tram- 
meled with innumerable and varied charges that equaled the 
exactions of a lord from his vassal in the palmy days of the feudal 
system. 

For example, the farmer was required to pay his lord, at his 
castle or principal residence, on the 20th of March, an annual 



APPORTIONMENT OF LAND IN CANADA. 133 

rent of five livres,* and ten livres in furs. He was obliged to till 
his lands within the first three months after he had received his 
grant, under penalty of losing his rights. Every year he was 
obliged to erect, or assist in raising, a May-pole in front of the 
principal manor house, or pay three livres either in specie or in 
furs. 

His grain was to be ground at the liege lord's mill, and toll to 
be paid for it. He could not sell his property without the per- 
mission of the lord of the manor. The duties and expenses of 
sale were paid by the farmer. 

During the first ten years of this grant, no mechanic, such as a 
locksmith, blacksmith, armorer, or brasier, could settle there with- 
out a special permit from his lord. 

' The State reserved to itself all the building timber, for fortifi- 
cations, ships, or boats. 

The farmer or landed proprietor could not sell merchandize, 
as this monopoly was reserved for special agents. The sale of 
brandy to Indians was expressly prohibited. 

Such were the principal conditions attached to the possession 
of property — that fundamental basis of the prosperity of a country. 
Hence it followed that such a system, so discouraging to pur- 
chasers, attracted but few settlers. 

A system of military despotism was also imposed on Canada — 
a most effectual means of crushing the seeds of prosperity, which 
were one day to convert that country into so rich an empire. 

As a result of this untoward system, France sent to her colonies 
subaltern agents to trade for furs, instead of actual settlers, an 
immeasurably superior source of wealth, by which France might 
eventually have acquired immense power in the New World. 

The threats of the people of New England, and their frequent 
attacks on the possessions of New France, at last provoked, among 
a people generally so mild and indolent, the determination to make 
reprisals against their ambitious aggressors. M. de Chivy pro- 
posed to direct an expedition against Boston ; and its execution 
was several times pressed upon the government, which, always 
too weak for its own defence, was far from being able to second 
any plan of attack upon its neighbors. 

Of all the onerous charges imposed upon the colonists of New 

* A livre is about the fifth of a dollar.— Tr. 



134 AMERICAN POWER. 

France, the tithe was the most intolerable. The clergy of Canada, 
although rich and powerful, urged their claims by all the means 
in their power; and the Bishop of Quebec issued an ordinance, 
threatening to refuse to administer absolution or the communion 
to the refractory. 

The king's minister, on becoming acquainted with these dif- 
ficulties, interposed and secured an arrangement by which the 
prelate was to receive but one-half in cash. The other half was 
to be paid, at the end of the summer, to the parish curates, thus 
relieving the colonists of the necessity of directly taking it to the 
episcopal see. 

Collieres, appointed Governor of Canada in 1700, had always 
desired to establish friendly relations with the English. On the 
1st of August, 1701, he collected together deputations from the 
Ottowas, Abenaquis, Iroquois, Hurons, Algonquins, Miamis, 
Sacks, Illinois, Outagamis, and other tribes; he explained to them 
his conciliatory views, and concluded a treaty of peace, which 
was invested with the different signs that characterize these na- 
tions. 

Canada soon lost M. de Collieres, the pacificator of the Indians. 
M. de Vaudreuil succeeded him in 1703. 

The Sieur de Brulay, in the course of 1704, commenced a 
small canal near Montreal. 

The hostilities between France and England, during the War 
of the Succession, soon extended to their American colonies. 

On the 2d of July, 1704, an English squadron, sailing from 
Boston, appeared in the basin of Port Royal, and summoned the 
place to surrender; while another squadron, penetrating into the 
Bay of Fundy, entered Beau Bassin, to secure a diversion. The 
advantage was on the side of the French, and the enemy was 
compelled to re-embark. 

Two more formidable expeditions were formed, in 1707, by 
the Governor-General of New England. 

A fleet of eighty vessels appeared, in June, in sight of Port 
Royal. Three thousand men invested the fortress, but expe- 
rienced such heavy losses that they were obliged to retire, after 
having carried off a number of animals, and burned the dwellings 
outside of the place. 

During the same year, a second expedition was attempted 



VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS AGAINST CANADA. 135 

against Port Royal, and was also victoriously repulsed by the 
Governor of Acadia, the brave Subercaze. 

England then formed the project of invading Canada. For 
this purpose, an army from the English colonies was to be se- 
conded by a naval force, equipped either in America or in Eng- 
land. But Governor Vaudreuil had taken all the measures neces- 
sary to cover the threatened points. The land expedition failed, 
while the squadron, which was to have been sent into the St. 
Lawrence, received in Europe another destination. 

Each year fresh enterprises were formed against the French 
possessions in Canada. While the English colonies continued to 
be powerfully seconded by the mother country, the French colo- 
nies did not even receive assistance. 

Finally, in 1710, a naval expedition, much superior to the 
former, was directed against Acadia. It consisted of six English 
and thirty American vessels, with three thousand four hundred 
soldiers on board. The force of Subercaze consisted only of three 
hundred. 

The courage of a handful of men was ineffectual against such 
an overwhelming force. After thirteen days of courageous resist- 
ance, they were forced to capitulate; but they evacuated the place 
with the honors of war. Only fifty-six of their original number 
remained. The name of Port Royal was then changed to Anna- 
polis, in honor of Queen Anne of England. 

In the following year, Viscount Bolingbroke projected an expe- 
dition against Quebec. The combined fleet collected at Boston, 
whence it sailed on the 13th of July, 1711, and anchored in the 
Bay of Gaspe. On the 3d of September, it weighed anchor, with 
the object of attacking Quebec; but it experienced such dense 
fogs that it was impossible to manoeuvre. Eight vessels of the 
fleet were wrecked upon the rocks on the coast near the Seven 
Isles, situated at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, where nearly 
nine hundred men perished. Hence, the attack was abandoned. 

At length, the peace of Utrecht, signed in 1713, put an end to 
the abasement to which France had been reduced during the reign 
of Louis the Fourteenth. 

England, by a single blow, wrested from the French the esta- 
blishments on Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland, and Acadia, with its 
ancient limits; in a word, all the outlets of New France upon the 
ocean. By that means she obtained supremacy over the fisheries. 



136 AMERICAN POWER. 

In Europe, she obtained, by the same treaty, Gibraltar and Port 
Mahon, with the whole island of Minorca. 

These various conquests were of immense advantage to her 
present and future commercial superiority, a supremacy to which 
her merchants already aspired. 

Wars of religion had, for the last two centuries, armed the 
nations of the globe one against another. The object of the 
struggle had just changed. Henceforward, wars for commercial 
advantages were about to commence. The treaty of Utrecht may 
be regarded as the starting-point. 

At the period of the treaty of Utrecht, Canada was in an incon- 
ceivable state of weakness and wretchedness. An attempt had 
been made to send to it a population; but this population was 
composed of runners, agents of the government, and a number 
of religious communities. 

The comparative competency which some of her people had 
acquired was lost in consequence of unfortunate wars. 

In 1713, the bills of exchange drawn upon the exchequer of 
the metropolis, to meet the expenses of the colony, were not paid; 
and from that moment, paper fell to the lowest state of depres- 
sion. 

The exportations from Canada, in 1714, did not exceed three 
hundred thousand francs (about sixty thousand dollars). The 
whole of this sum, with an equal amount from the government, 
was required to pay for the merchandise sent from Europe. 

Nevertheless, after the peace of Utrecht, attention was again 
called to the French settlements in America. The isle of Cape 
Breton, situated at the entrance of the gulf, which had been left 
to France by this last treaty, was settled. Its name was changed 
to Royal Isle. Port Dauphin was founded, but was very soon 
abandoned for Louisburg, which presented a beautiful harbor, 
and was settled by the fishermen of Newfoundland. 

The French who had abandoned Newfoundland retired to Cape 
Breton, whose population was further augmented by some refugees 
from Acadia. Other settlements were formed, or grew up in the 
Isle St. John, in the archipelago of the Madeleine, and in the Isle 
Miscou, situated at the entrance of the bay des Chaleurs. These 
different posts, advantageously situated for the fisheries in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, gave a fresh impulse to this industry. 

In 1714, the brotherhood of St. Sulpicius had already consti- 



CHARLEVOIX IN AMERICA. 137 

tuted eighty-five parishes in Canada, forty-two of which were 
within the government of Quebec, thirteen within that of Trois 
Rivieres, and twenty-eight within that of Montreal. 

In 1715, the Sieur de Vincennes, a Canadian officer, visited 
the country of the Miamis, and founded a post, bearing his name, 
at the mouth of the Wabash. It is from this period especially 
that we can date the establishment of a line of posts from the 
lakes to the Mississippi. 

The post of Vincennes was also called Fort St. Aiige, or Fort 
Pineguichicas. 

The command of Royal Isle was given to Major de Ligondes 
in 1710. In 1719, settlements were commenced on Isle St. 
John; and, in 1720, MM. de Vaudreuil and Noyan formed esta- 
blishments below the division of the Niagara. The French were 
also engaged, this year, in fortifying Louisburg upon an excel- 
lent plan. The greater part of the materials were imported from 
Europe. More than thirty million livres (about six million dol- 
lars) was expended on the works. This position became important 
as a protection to the French fisheries and commerce in America. 
It formed the key to the navigation of the St. Lawrence. 

In 1720, the bills drawn upon the metropolis by the agents of 
the State were paid with a loss of five-eighths. A specie cur- 
rency was then restored for two years. After that, paper money 
was again put in circulation to the amount of a million livres (two 
hundred thousand dollars). 

In 1721, La Jencaire founded Lewistown on the Niagara. This 
year, the historian Charlevoix visited the mission posts of Cata- 
racouy, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimakinac, and Puants Bay. 

In the spring of 1722, he visited the mission established at the 
bottom of the Bay of St, Joseph, on Lake Michigan, where he 
was detained five weeks by sickness. Thence he went to Kas- 
kaskias, from which place he descended the Mississippi to its out- 
let in the Gulf of Mexico, He wished to return by the same 
route ; but, finding no one in Louisiana disposed to accompany 
him, he took passage for St. Domingo, and w-as wrecked on the 
southern cape of Florida. Returning to Louisiana, he took pas- 
sage for Havana, whence he sailed for France, and arrived after 
a passage of ninety-three days. 

It was supposed that the Acadians, for whom the right had been 
reserved to establish themselves at Cape Breton, would settle at 



138 AMERICAN POWER. 

the new establishments which had been formed at that place; 
but they preferred retaining their property under English rule. 
Royal Isle was therefore peopled, in great part, by a few European 
emigrants. At one time, nearly four thousand inhabitants were 
settled there ; but they returned to Louisburg, Fort Dauphin, 
Toulouse, and Nevieka. 

The entire attention of these people was directed to the fish- 
eries. The severity of the climate prevented them from attempting 
agricultural pursuits. 

They found coal mines, but knew not how to work them to ad- 
vantage. These mines, at the present day, are of immense im- 
portance for the supply of the steamers on the Halifax station. 

In 1727, Quebec was defended by a fine citadel, built to the 
south, on a position commanding the city and the shores of the 
river ; and by Fort St. Louis, in which a castle had been built. 
It was also covered by a certain number of batteries connected 
by an underground work. The city was divided into the upper 
and the lower town, and contained a palace for the governor, a 
bishopric, a cathedral, a Franciscan convent, a Jesuit convent, a 
church, situated in the lower town, and a convent for the females 
of the Congregation. There were also, at this time, thirty mis- 
sions among the Indians on the borders of the lakes. Five of 
these were among the Iroquois, on Lake Ontario, on the south 
side ; one at the extremity of the lake; and two near the rapids 
of the St. Lawrence ; three on the borders of Lake St. Clair, near 
Detroit; one at the outlet of Lake Huron; one in Saguemine 
Bay; seven on the northern borders of Lake Huron ; five in Pu- 
ants Bay ; two on the Wabash ; one on the Miami ; and one on 
the Kikapous. 

Montreal, at the same period, contained a parish church, a semi- 
nary, a convent of Jesuits, one of Franciscans, a Hotel Dieu, a 
convent for females of the Congregation, a hospital of the chap- 
ter of Bon-Secours, a prison, and a parochial chapel, St. Anne. 

In 1731, active measures were taken to fortify the outlets of 
Lake Champlain, upon the St. Lawrence, in order to cover Mon- 
treal, from that side, against the incursions of the Anglo-Ameri- 
cans. 

The fisheries had received so fresh an impulse since the settle- 
ment of Royal Isle, in 1713, that, tw^enty years later, the annual 
yield, as well in codfish as in oil, amounted in value to three mil- 



EXPEDITION AGAINST ROYAL ISLE. 139 

lion two hundred thousand livres (about six hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars). These returns varied but little for several 
years. 

In 1734, M. de Varendry traversed the American continent 
from the shores of the St. Lawrence to the Pacific Ocean, a dis- 
tance estimated by him to be about nine hundred miles; and, in 
1743, Louis Fornel discovered Esquimaux Bay, known by the 
natives as Kenessakion. 

Halifax was founded by the English in 1743, near Chibuctou 
Bay. This city became the capital of Acadia, which then took 
the name of Nova Scotia, and was looked upon as a new centre 
of colonization. Four thousand colonists arrived from England 
and the European continent. The town of Lunenburgh was 
shortly afterwards founded by seven hundred Germans. 

Notwithstanding all the concessions which France had been 
compelled to make at the treaty of Utrecht, the jealousy and 
ambition of the people of New England were not satisfied. 
Having once conceived the project of appropriating to them- 
selves the possessions and the commerce of New France, they 
never would abandon it. Whenever an opportunity to make 
aggressions upon the French settlements presented itself, they 
seized it with avidity; and when no occasion correspondent to 
their wishes arose, they created one. 

The renewed life which animated the northern settlements had 
given great pain to the people of New England. The importance 
of Royal Isle disturbed them. They resolved to take possession of 
it. The plan of invasion was formed in Boston in 1745: New 
England bore all the expenses of the expedition. A Mr. Pep- 
perel, a merchant of that city, was its chief agent and instigator. 
He obtained the command of six thousand men, raised for that pur- 
pose. This army was conveyed in nine ships of war. The fleet, 
composed of one hundred sail in all, anchored in sight of Louis- 
burg, in Chapeau Rouge Bay, since named Gabarus by the 
English. The attack was commenced on the 28th of April, 
Louisburg was in a condition to offer considerable resistance. 
Unfortunately, the military governor mistrusted the militia, which 
composed his principal disposable force for defence. They re- 
quested permission to make sorties, and attack the enemy on 
landing ; but in the fear that they would pass over to the enemy, 
this request was refused. By reason of this fatal distrust, the gar- 



140 AMERICAN POWER. 

rison was compelled, after a vigorous resistance of fifty days, to 
capitulate. The fate of the whole island soon followed that of 
Louisburg. 

The entire population of the colony amounted to two thousand 
souls. All embarked in the fleet, and were transported to Brest ! 
In 1747, M. de la Galissonniere was appointed Governor of 
New France, at which period, the Anglo-Americans were again 
desirous of extending their Nova Scotia boundary to the southern 
shores of the St. Lawrence. He resolved to repel their unjust 
pretensions, and restrain them within the peninsula, which the 
last treaties had assigned as their boundary. Moreover, the people 
of Pennsylvania, and particularly those of Virginia, made fre- 
quent attempts to extend their possessions westwardly as far as 
the shores of the Ohio. They had already examined the country 
beyond that river, and had explored the fertile plains of Indiana, 
and the rich territory of Ohio, which they ardently coveted. The 
governor of New France, whose attention was thus drawn in that 
direction, sought to resist their encroachments by constructing a 
line of forts along that frontier. 

All the efforts of France to resist the onward march of the An- 
glo-Americans were unavailing. All past or future treaties were 
unable to check the progress of American democracy, destined 
to govern the New World. Nothing could prevent its triumph 
over feudal principles, military despotism, and papal authority. 

The nations of Europe at length became fatigued with long and 
unproductive wars. A congress was assembled at Aix la-Chapelle 
in 1748, where a treaty of peace was signed after an eight years' 
contest. ^ 

Royal Isle was, at this period, restored to France. According 
to this, and the preceding treaties, the settled boundary of the 
French possessions in America was declared to be the Ohio River, 
and its tributaries ; that is to say, the crest of the Apalachian 
or Alleghany Mountains was assumed as the boundary of the 
English colonies. 

The greatest difficulty, however, was not to define the bound- 
aries by treaties, but to resist the invasions of the Anglo-Ameri- 
cans — invasions the more threatening, because they were not the 
result of conquests by force of arms, but of the isolated though 
sure encroachments of agricultural emigrants, who were advancing 
as the pioneers or vanguard of those millions destined at a later 



WESTERN SETTLEMENTS. 141 

period to go forth from the bosom of New England to the con- 
quest of the great valley of the Mississippi, their object and their 
certain prey! 

In 1749, the Acadians, no longer able to bear the yoke of the 
English, gave up their property, and emigrated, to the number of 
about three thousand, tothe Isle St. John. Most of these emigrants 
were farmers. The residence of the fishermen on that island 
was Tracadia, St. Pierre, and the port la Joie. 

The French then built Forts Gasparaux and Beausejour, as out- 
posts to their possessions between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 
Bay of Fundy. They also formed settlements on the River St. 
John, which empties into this bay. 

But Great Britain coveted all that region of country situated 
between Acadia and New England, and attacked Beausejour with 
three thousand men. That fortress, after sustaining a siege of 
fourteen days, capitulated. Its capture involved that of Fort 
Gasparaux, which had a garrison of but forty men. 

The English afterwards attacked Fort St. John, whose entrench- 
ments were formed merely of palisades. The commandant set 
fire to it, and retired into the interior of the country. 

During the same year, the French again took official possession 
of the country watered by the Ohio, and took occasion to bury, on 
several points of that river, plates of lead upon which the arms 
of France were engraved; that is to say, on the right shore, at 
the mouth of the Ohio; at Chino-Dachito ; at Venaugoukanon ; at 
Ronanoara ; and lastly, below the pointe coiipee, or Kanonouangon. 

In 1750, the extension and consolidation of the western settle- 
ments were attempted. Those of the strait became the especial 
object of the solicitude of the government. None but men of 
good morals, and, according to the expression of the day, real 
terriers, that is to say, determined to settle as agriculturists, were 
received into these settlements. 

To each settler a gun, a mattock, an axe, a ploughshare, a 
scythe, a sickle, and an auger were given, besides one sow, six 
hens and a cock, six pounds of powder, and twelve of shot. The 
State also undertook to feed him for eighteen months after his 
arrival at the place of his destination. 

Unmarried men enjoyed equal prerogatives, with the exception 
that their support at the expense of the State began only on the 
day that they contracted a marriage. Every two inhabitants 



142 AMERICAN POWER. 

were provided with a cow and a yoke of oxen, which they were 
bound to replace after the first year. 

The State also supplied the colonists with seed for their cleared 
lands for the first year, which were not to be replaced till the 
third year. 

These dispositions on the part of the French government to 
colonize as actively as possible their north-west possessions did not 
prevent the English government, according to their praiseworthy 
habits, from disposing of a portion of this territory in favor of their 
own subjects. In 1750, England granted lands west of the Ohio 
River to a company which assumed the name of the Ohio Com- 
pany, with permission to found a colony there. A few emigrants 
repaired to these lands, and attempted to establish their rights to 
them; but they encountered so much resistance on the part of the 
French, who had long been settled among the Indian nations in 
those countries, that they were obliged to retire. This new at- 
tempt to encroach on the territory of the French in the west 
determined M. de Galissonniere to establish a military communi- 
cation between Fort Presqu'Ile on Lake Erie, and the Ohio along 
the course of the Alleghany River. 

If the condition of the French possessions in America at the 
close of this half century be examined, it will be found very satis- 
factory, as well in a territorial point of view as with respect to 
the progress of colonization. France still held nearly all the 
territory which she had possessed at the close of the seventeenth 
century. She had lost Acadia, but had acquired Louisiana; and 
her right to the entire possession of the great regions of the West, 
the finest portion of the American continent, remained acknow- 
ledged and incontestable. 

The population of New France, which, at the close of the 
seventeenth century, amounted to twelve thousand, was estimated, 
fifty years later, at sixty-three thousand. Therefore it had quin- 
tupled in half a century. 

This population was distributed as follows: — 

Quebec 8000 



Montreal ..... 
Trois Rivieres .... 
Interior country .... 
In the west and at the Upper Lakes 



4000 

800 

42,000 

8000 



Of these sixty-three thousand inhabitants, those of the west 



MARQUIS DUQUESNE. 143 

were more especially addicted to hunting and the fur trade than 
to agricultural pursuits. 

It was estimated that, throughout the whole of this colony, there 
were, at the period referred to, one hundred and eighty thousand 
acres under cultivation, and twenty thousand acres of prairie land. 
The annual crops amounted usually to four hundred thousand 
rations of wheat, five thousand of Indian corn, one hundred and 
thirty thousand of oats, three thousand of barley, six thousand 
bushels of beans, one hundred thousand quintals of tobacco, 
twenty thousand of flax, and five thousand of hemp. 

Such were the resources and productions of the French North 
American colonies in 1750. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
1750—1763. 

FRENCH COLONY NEW FRANCE. 

Marquis Duquesne is appointed Governor of Canada — He undertakes an expedition 
with the design of checking the encroachments of the Anglo-Americans in the 
west — He builds several forts — Fort Duquesne at Pittsburgh — Forts Machaut 
and Lebffiuf— Braddock's defeat — Advantages of Pittsburgh as a manufacturing 
city ; its present condition — Disposition of the military posts occupied by the 
French, and by the English — Renewal of hostilities between the two nations — 
Removal of the inhabitants from Acadia — Attack and capture of Forts Oswego 
and George by the French — The Anglo-Americans atteinpt to retake Fort George, 
but fail, with a loss of four thousand men — Attack of Louisburg — Heroic de- 
fence of the garrison, in which Governor Drucourt and his wife take an active 
part — Siege of Quebec — Death of Generals Wolf and Montcalm — Capitulation 
of the Canadian forces — A handful of troops and Canadians, attempting to retake 
their capital, surrenders to three armies sent to surround it — New France falls 
into the power of the English. 

The Marquis Duquesne, a distinguished naval officer, was ap- 
pointed Governor of the French possessions in Canada in 1752. 
On his arrival at Quebec, he directed his attention to the means 
necessary to check the Anglo-American encroachments on all the 
settled boundaries between the English and French possessions. 
He accordingly organized an expedition, of which he took the 



144 AMERICAN POWER. 

command the following year. He erected a number of forts upon 
the shores of the Ohio, which had been diligently explored during 
the four preceding years. 

The largest of these forts was erected at the confluence of the 
Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers, whose junction forms the 
Ohio. This fort was projected upon the model of Fort Frontenac. 
It was a square protected by bastions, and somewhat smaller than 
the former. Upon this plan, all the fortifications built for the 
same purpose in America were mostly constructed. 

The position selected for this fort, which received the name of 
Duquesne, in honor of the governor, was admirable, as well in 
relation to military operations as to commerce and manufactures. 
It formed the centre of communication, by water, with Canada, 
with Illinois, with the lakes, and Louisiana. This point w^as, 
therefore, excellently adapted to check the movements of the 
Anglo-Americans of Pennsylvania and Virginia, should they at- 
tempt to descend into the valley of the Ohio. With the forts at 
the lower part of the Ohio, this position commanded the great 
valley so much coveted by the Anglo-Americans. Below Fort 
Duquesne was Fort Beausejour, commanded by the Sieur Du- 
plessis. 

This disposition of the French was looked upon with appre- 
hension, especially by the people of Virginia, for it evidently 
threatened to circumvent the English colonies in their projects of 
aggrandizement towards the west, the avowed object of their 
desires. The Virginians were, therefore, the first to pass beyond 
the limits of the Alleghany Mountains, and to dispute the posses- 
sion of the valley of the Ohio with the French. But their first 
attempts were unfortunate. Their detachments were beaten on 
several occasions ; and the forts they attempted to build upon the 
Ohio were destroyed. 

The mother country resolved to avenge the afTront cast upon 
her by these reverses of her colonists. For this purpose, she sent 
to their relief a considerable force, under the command of General 
Braddock. In the summer of 1755, this general proceeded to 
attack Fort Duquesne with thirty-six pieces of cannon and six 
thousand men. But he was surprised in his march, at about 
twelve miles from this post, by two hundred and five French 
troops, and one hundred and fifty Indians, and his army was 
almost exterminated. These unexpected reverses checked the 



REMINISCENCES OF FORT DUQUESNE. 145 

march of the three numerous corps destined to act against 
Canada. 

I delight in recording here that brilliant action on the part of 
our fellow-citizens, as much on account of the historical import- 
ance attached to it, as by reason of the fact itself, for we were 
then masters of those rich western countries, which I could never 
look upon without indescribable emotions of regret for their loss! 
And Fort Duquesne was the key of the Ohio! 

In 1817, I visited the site of Fort Duquesne, and the scene of 
Braddock's defeat. The former now bears the name of Pittsburgh, 
The other yet retains its name, and will stand an imperishable 
monument of the heroic courage of a handful of Frenchmen, de- 
spite the furrows which periodically stir up the ashes of those who 
there left their mortal remains, 

I could still trace the bastioned square, which had been de- 
fended at that time by eight cannons, four of which were three 
pounders. One of the bastions was in a perfect state of preserva- 
tion ; but now, these monuments of our passage into the valley 
of the Ohio, as children of the warlike France of that period, have 
disappeared to make room for a new city, containing a population 
of twenty-one thousand three hundred inhabitants,* which rather 
resembles a small manufacturing republic, advancing with giant 
strides towards its full development. Its inhabitants manufacture 
iron, lead, and all kinds of metals ; wood-work, glass, paper, linen, 
and cotton. Their cut glass can compare with the richest of 
Europe, Their nail factories are probably the best in the world. 
The quality of the iron is excellent, although inferior to that of 
New^ Jersey. 

The coal mines which abound everywhere, and are found almost 
at the surface of the earth, facilitate all their enterprises, in which 
fuel is an element of the greatest importance, A great number 
of workshops of all descriptions have been established. But the 
principal industry of this locality is the manufacture of steam 
engines for all purposes, but principally for steamboats, Pitts- 
burgh is the great emporium of the west for the construction of 
steamboats. Out of four hundred steamboats, built in one year 

* At this time, November, 1849, Pittsburgh has a population of over 
seventy thousand. — T. 

10 



146 AMERICAN POWER. 

on the western waters, seventy-five were constructed at Pittsburgh. 
The annual value of exports from that port is fifty millions. 

In 1755, France occupied the following military posts: 1. 
Niagara, on Lake Ontario. 2. Detroit. 3. A post at the head 
of Lake Puants. 4. Presqu'Ile, on Lake Erie. 5. A post on the 
River aux Bceiifs. 6. Duquesne. 7. Ouiatanon, on the St. Je- 
rome, or Wabash. 8. Vincennes, fortified only by palisades, at 
the mouth of the Wabash. 9. Kaskia. 10. Chartres. 11. Es- 
causlen, at the mouth of the Ohio. The Anglo-Americans had 
one fort at Oswego, on Lake Ontario; one at Pikkivatina, on the 
Miami of the Ohio ; and, lastly, a post at Wheeling, on the Ohio, 
below Pittsburgh. 

During this year, the English captured three hundred French 
vessels on the coast of Canada, without having made any declara- 
tion of war. Hostilities commenced anew in North America in 
April, 1755. 

The unsettled question relative to the boundaries of the French 
and English possessions was the ostensible pretext for the war; 
but the real object sought to be gained by a renewal of hostilities 
was the conquest of Canada. 

Under these circumstances, the British government exhibited 
an utter want of consideration for the French in Acadia, whose 
settlements, dispersed within the interior, were considered neutral. 
It determined to transport the entire population ; and twelve thou- 
sand men were thus condemned to seek an asylum out of Acadia. 
The greater number of the expatriated were even necessitated to 
bear the expense of their transportation to other colonies. 

A great number repaired to different parts of English America. 
Fifteen hundred Acadians landed in Virginia, where they were 
treated as prisoners of war, transferred to England, and thrown 
into prison at Bristol and Exeter. Twelve hundred arrived in 
Maryland; other detachments landed upon the coast of Carolina; 
while a great number perished on the American coast. 

Several vessels landed a number of these unfortunate people at 
the island of Cape Breton, where they were received with heartfelt 
sympathy by their fellow-countrymen. 

In the month of August, 1756, the French, although few in 
number, repaired to one of the most important points of the Eng- 
lish lines on the borders of Lake Ontario. They attacked Fort 
Oswego, defended by a garrison of eighteen hundred men and 



CAPITULATION OF FORT GEORGE. 147 

by one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon. This post, which 
served as a sort of depot, contained a great quantity of ammuni- 
tion of every kind. After a few days' energetic resistance, it was 
carried by three thousand Frenchmen. During the same year, 
several French parties, supported by the Indians, made various 
incursions within the limits of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Caro- 
lina, and killed or disabled seven hundred men. 

Nevertheless, the Anglo-Americans still pressed on the set- 
tlements of the west. They had already erected a fort at the 
mouth of Cumberland River, from which point they continually 
threatened the French possessions. It was even difficult to carry 
provisions to Fort Duquesne, where a garrison of eleven hundred 
men was stationed under the orders of M. de Lignery. 

The Anglo-Americans had also erected strong positions upon 
the lakes, by means of which they were enabled to interrupt the 
communications between the St. Lawrence and the western set- 
tlements. Fort George was one of those points. It occupied an 
important position on Lake Champlain, in the direct line of com- 
munication, through the Hudson River, with the St. Lawrence. 
It became urgent to dislodge the Americans from this position, as 
well to preserve relations with the western country as to protect 
the capital of Canada. 

In 1757, five thousand five hundred men, supported by eight- 
een hundred Indians, attacked this post, defended by two thou- 
sand two hundred and sixty-four Anglo-Americans. In a few^ 
days, the besieged were forced to capitulate. The French hastily 
raised a redoubt upon the ruins of the fort, to which they gave 
the name of Carillon. The Americans, appreciating the strength 
of this position, with respect to their projected attack upon Mon- 
treal, determined to retake it, and made prodigious efforts to effect 
this object. The redoubt Carillon was unfinished when it was 
attacked; but an abattis had been thrown upon its exposed front, 
which made the approach to it quite formidable. 

On the 8th of July, 1758, the Anglo-Americans, who had col- 
lected their forces at Fort Edward, presented themselves in front 
of the redoubt, to the number of six thousand three hundred 
regulars, and thirteen thousand militia furnished by the colonies. 
They threw themselves upon this demi-bastion with rare intre- 
pidity, and, undaunted by any obstacles, continued the assault 
for four hours! They lost over four thousand men, and were 



148 AMERICAN POWER. 

finally obliged to retreat from before these ramparts, hastily con- 
structed, it is true, but defended by three thousand five hundred 
Frenchmen. 

These brilliant exploits were, for some reason, the last which 
were destined to crown the courageous efforts of our brave troops 
in Canada. England had sent considerable forces to hasten the 
issue of the definitive establishment of its power in America. On 
the 2d of June, 1758, a fleet, composed of twenty-three ships of 
the line and eighteen frigates, carrying sixteen thousand troops 
under the command of General Wolf, anchored in Gabarus Bay, 
half a league from Louisburg. 

Louisburg was then garrisoned by two thousand eight hundred 
men. Its fortifications were of wretched construction. The cas- 
ings of the different curtains had entirely tumbled down. At that 
time, there was but a single casemate, and a small bomb-proof 
magazine. 

Despite all these disadvantages, the besieged offered the most 
obstinate resistance. They were directed by able chiefs, at the 
head of whom were Governor Drucourt and his heroic wife, who 
emulously disputed with each other the sacred duty of defending 
the honor of their country. 

Finally, after all its resources were exhausted, the city made 
an honorable capitulation. Its intrepid defenders received the 
esteem of their conquerors. 

The capture of Royal Isle was of great importance. It was the 
key of Canada. To that point the war was carried the very next 
year. 

About the end of June, an English fleet of three hundred sail, 
commanded by Admiral Saunders, made its appearance in the 
waters of the St. Lawrence, a few miles from Quebec. On a 
dark night, when the wind was favorable, the defenders of Quebec 
launched eight fire-ships, in the hope of reducing this fleet to 
ashes. But notwithstanding the circumstances which favored this 
attempt, it was unsuccessful. Its failure is attributable to the 
impatience of those who had charge of the expedition. 

During this time, an army ten thousand strong attacked Point 
Levy, opposite Quebec, and commenced the bombardment of the 
city. 

Oil the 13th of December, five thousand English soldiers landed 
at the foot of the heights which command the citadel, and fear- 



QUEBEC SURRENDERS TO THE ENGLISH. 149 

lessly began the assault under the direction of General Wolf. In 
this assault, that brave general was slain. One part of the city- 
was taken; but the citadel still remained in the power of the 
French, who performed prodigies of valor under the orders of 
General Montcalm. This great chief, to repulse the enemy, 
issued an order which unfortunately was not obeyed, and lost his 
life in defending the last demi-bastion in which he had entrenched 
himself. 

The Chevalier Levy then assumed the command, conscious of 
the fault which had been committed relative to the orders of the 
brave Montcalm; but it was too late. The city capitulated on 
the 17th. Quebec then contained ten thousand inhabitants. 

The capture of the capital of Canada was the signal of defeat 
at other points. Fort Niagara was taken on the 28th of July, 
1759, after a siege of twenty days. This loss, and that of Fort 
Frontenac, surrendered to Colonel Bradstreet by its commander 
De Noyan, left open to the English the navigation of Lake Ontario, 
and permitted them to send fresh troops to Montreal. Fort 
Duquesne was also abandoned by its commandant, after he had 
destroyed its intrenchments. 

Notwithstanding these reverses, the sentiment of honor and 
courage, so enduring in Frenchmen, still remained. A small 
corps of regulars and Canadian colonists determined to recover 
Quebec, the seat of government of their province, and on the 20th 
of April, 1760, descended the St. Lawrence upon the ice, and 
arrived within a short distance of the city before the English were 
aware of their approach. But a fortuitous accident revealed the 
presence of this Spartan band. One of the party fell into the 
water, and saved himself upon a cake of ice. Carried on shore 
at Quebec by the current, he was perceived by the garrison, who 
immediately spread the alarm. The English had thus time to 
prepare for the defence of the place. The French had calculated 
upon a surprise to insure the success of the enterprise. But they 
did not abandon this bold attempt, expecting a supply of pro- 
visions from Europe. But on the 16th of May they were obliged 
to raise the siege, and regain Montreal. 

Unfortunately, this city, the last refuge of the troops and au- 
thorities of the colony, was not susceptible of defence. It was 
surrounded only by one wall, built for protection against the 
Indians, and not adapted to resist European forces. 



150 AMERICAN POWER. 

Meanwhile, three armies were marching to encounter this heroic 
remnant of the French forces. One was descending, another 
ascending, the St. Lawrence; and the third, arriving by way of 
Lake Champlain, appeared before Montreal on the 8th of Sep- 
tember, 1760. The besieged were obliged to capitulate in their 
own name, as well as in that of the entire colony ! 

Thus was solved the question concerning the boundary between 
the French and English possessions, by the conquest of the whole 
country, as sanctioned by the treaty of Paris in 1763. 

All Canada was thus lost to France, with that Louisburg 
which had cost so much treasure and so much care, to be so often 
the prey of the English. All the lands east of the Mississippi 
were conceded to the English. 

In the course of this fatal war, France lost its most flourishing 
youth, more than one-half of the ready money circulating in the 
kingdom, its navy, its commerce, and its credit. 

The annual expense of governing Canada until the year 1750 
had never exceeded one million seven hundred thousand francs 
(three hundred and forty thousand dollars). At the peace, it 
amounted to eighty million francs (sixteen million dollars) ! Such 
w^as the result of the habitual prevarication of the all-powerful 
agents of the government in that country, who had only their own 
particular interests to subserve. The inhabitants w-ere nothing 
but a species of animal, worked by a few individuals, whose 
avarice was as great as their ignorance and turpitude. This state 
of things was perceived too late, and was due to the negligence 
and apathy of the government of France, and especially to the 
system adopted in the administration and colonization of Canada. 



PRINCIPLES OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION. 151 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1700—1763. 

ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIES. 

English Revolution of 1688 — Its character and influence; slave trade decreed by 
Parliament — Introduction of slaves into the American colonies — Violence of the 
Puritans against the Catholic priests — Fresh quarrels between the English and 
French colonies relative to the boundary line of their respective frontiers — The 
American colonies project the conquest of Canada — Renewed attack upon Port 
Royal, which fails — Destruction of the French settlements upon the Penobscot, 
in the province of Maine — Difficulty of adjusting the frontiers between Spain 
and England — Hostilities which follow — Creation of the new colony of Georgia — 
Its object; form of its administration — Oglethorpe, principal founder of this 
colony — He attacks St. Augustine, and is repulsed — Attack of the Spaniards upon 
the English settlements of St. Simon ; their complete route — Introduction of 
African negroes as slaves — Georgia changes its government — Captain John 
Reynolds — Adoption of a new administration, founded upon principles of liberty 
and independence — Relative forces of the French and English colonies on the 
renewal of hostilities — Result of that last conflict — Canada and the north-western 
territories become the property of England — Occupation of the north-west by the 
Anglo-Americans — The Indians take up arms to drive the Americans from their 
territories, and maintain their allegiance to France — The chief, Pontiac ; failure 
of his project — Prosperity of the American colonies secured. 

The conquest of the liberty which England enjoys dates from 
the Revolution of 1688, when the crown of King James passed to 
the Prince of Orange, by the decision of the British Parliament. 

This revolution secured freedom of thought, the right of resist- 
ance, the power of the Parliament, and the influence of the com- 
mercial classes. It respected that which was established, while 
it conquered the liberty of the subject. It maintained the supe- 
riority of the aristocracy, but nevertheless increased the influence 
of the middle classes. It modified those vices which could not 
be entirely destroyed, and increased the guarantees of individual 
liberty, of political opinions, and of the freedom of the press, and 
asserted the responsibility of the executive power. In this man- 
ner, without violence, but also without serious reactions, consti- 
tutional liberty was permanently and definitively established in 



152 AMERICAN POWER. 

England. And if England has not, since then, made marked 
progress, her constitutional rights yet remain intact. 

We may remark that the essential object of the Revolution of 
England was English interests, English rights, but not those of 
humanity; that, in the end, the policy of its government has 
always been that of material interests, directed with a view to in- 
dividual aggrandizement, and not by a feeling of reciprocity and 
justice, in this respect differing from our glorious Revolution of 
1789, so generous, so great, so expansive in its natural interpre- 
tation of the immutable principles of liberty, which are destined 
one day to rule the whole civilized people of the globe. 

The American colonies were the first to experience the fatal 
influence of these contracted and egotistical views. The English 
merchants, judging that it was their interest to maintain the colo- 
nies in a state of dependence upon them for manufactures, advo- 
cated thte doctrine that slave labor, and the introduction of African 
slaves, were advantageous to Great Britain and to her colonies! 
The influence of this party was so great in England, at that time, 
that it induced William and Mary to secure the passage of a law 
by Parliament in favor of the slave trade; and the opinion of the 
king and of the Parliament, favorable to that iniquitous trade, 
was registered, even in the text of the law, in 1695. 

Such were the principles which then directed English policy, 
and such have they remained! Now that England has conquered 
another empire in India, where she labors to find the means of 
supplying the raw material for her manufactures, and consequently 
to dispense with the products of the American soil, which is no 
longer her own, the slave trade has ceased to be useful. Eman- 
cipation may serve her interests. Hence the English merchants, 
to subserve their own interests, as in 1690, preach a contrary 
doctrine, immediate manumission, in order to strike a heavy blow 
at a powerful rival. And if the interests of her merchants required 
it, England would go to war to enforce a measure thus dressed in 
the garb of humanity. 

At the commencement of the eighteenth century, in 1713, 
England, by the Treaty of Assienta, obtained the privilege of 
importing negroes, not only into her own colonies, but into those 
of Spanish America. She also had the monopoly of this odious 
traffic, of which she took advantage to people her southern colo- 
nies. From that day she protected, recommended, and encou- 



ANTAGONISM OF PRINCIPLES IN THE NEW WORLD. 153 

raged the slave trade, and the introduction of the black race in 
America, that infectious leprosy which threatens to shake even to 
its foundation the splendid edifice of American democracy. But 
a great good must one day grow out of this great evil. At least 
such is our hope of the future ; for, if America has received from 
Africa the heavy burden of slavery, Africa, in her turn, must one 
day receive from America the precious blessing of liberty. 

At the time of the English revolution, three political systems 
were in existence in America — absolute despotism, aristocratic 
privileges, and pure democracy. 

France represented absolute despotism in the New World, with 
the three orders in subjection to its laws: the power of the clergy, 
by a treaty with the Pope; the feudal power, by its standing 
armies; and the civil power, or commercial institutions, by the 
influence of the patronage of office and a vigorous police. 

England, by the power of its Parliament, presented ifte ideas 
of aristocratic liberty — its privileges, its immunities, corpora- 
tions, &c. 

The Anglo-American colonies, by their social institutions, their 
separate existence, and by a government of their choice, repre- 
sented the fundamental dogma of the sovereignty of the people. 

The struggle between these three principles lasted nearly one 
century, thus affording scope for the practice of democracy, and 
terminated in the complete triumph of the sovereignty of the 
people in thirteen independent States, under the denomination of 
the United States. 

Nevertheless, the English system did not cease to exert a strong 
influence on the exigencies, the actions, and even on the character 
of the Anglo-Americans; an influence which, in many respects, 
is still felt, though they have existed for more than fifty years as 
an independent nation. In fact, nothing is so indelible as the 
seal of our origin, especially when it accords with our interests. 

But it is particularly in the conduct of the Anglo-American 
populations towards their rivals on the continent that the spirit 
and egotism of the English have been exposed in all their naked- 
ness and deformity. 

Thus, as it was well known that the advantages obtained by the 
French in their intercourse with the Indians proceeded from the 
influence which the missionaries had obtained over the minds of 
that credulous people, the Anglo-Americans, in their grasping 



154 AMERICAN POWER. 

jealousy of the same advantages, resolved to check this influence 
at its source. It was decreed, in 1700, by the government of the 
province of New York, that any Catholic priest found in the pro- 
vince should be huncr. 

We can judge by this official act of the spirit of cruelty and 
selfishness which in those days animated the inhabitants of the 
provinces bordering on New France — that is to say, of the Puri- 
tans against the Catholics. Therefore, the greatest animosity 
always manifested itself whenever a question relative to the set- 
tlement of a disputed boundary arose. And too often has it been 
necessary to record the barbarous treatment inflicted by the peo- 
ple of the frontier on the peaceful missionary. 

France claimed that part of western New York, occupied by 
the Iroquois nation, which she had conquered. When it became 
necessary to regulate that frontier and to establish its boundaries, 
it was Mnpossible to come to any definite understanding. The 
pretensions of the Americans were beyond all bounds. They 
wished to have access to Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, to be 
masters of the communication of the Hudson with the St. Law- 
rence, and the lakes ! In their correspondence with Canada re- 
lative to this question. New York manifested -great eagerness for 
the conquest of that colony. This was, in fact, a certain means 
of cutting short the question; a means not only warmly approved 
by the other colonies of New England, but in which they after- 
w^ards participated. Therefore, from that time, that conquest 
became the dominant thought of the Anglo-Americans. 

In 1711, this project was so popular in New England that the 
means of putting it into execution were discussed in the Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts. The result of the discussion was that 
an expedition was afterwards organized and assembled in Boston, 
and even sailed with the design of attacking Port Royal. 

Providence fortunately interposed to save this settlement. A 
storm defeated all the calculations of these rapacious aggressors, 
who were thus compelled to renounce their projects. But in 1723, 
they attacked the little colony and mission of Penobscot, founded 
above Bangor, in Maine. All the inhabitants were murdered, 
and the mission destroyed; and a fatal blow was thus given to 
the last French settlement in Maine. This was the third time 
that these establishments had been ruined by the fire and sword 



COLONY OF GEORGIA. 155 

of the Anglo-Americans. This event was decisive ; the French 
were expelled from the colony of Maine. 

From that time, the twelve English colonies, founded in the 
seventeenth century, held undisputed possession of the whole 
Atlantic coast, from the River St. Croix to Florida. 

Nevertheless, the boundary line between South Carolina, an 
English colony, and the Spanish possessions in Florida, was not 
established. The English, in consequence of their usurpation of 
the rights of the French, who, under John Ribaut and Rene de 
Laudonniere, in 1564, had formed a colony upon the territory in 
dispute, claimed possession as far as the River St. John. The 
Spaniards claimed priority of possession as far as the Bay of St. 
Helena, in Carolina. The pretensions on either side were great ; 
but the power to enforce them was all on one side, that of Eng- 
land. To gain her point was, therefore, inevitable. 

But the government of Florida adopted a policy whic| might 
seriously have compromised the peace and tranquillity of the 
planters of Carolina. Under the pretext of seeking to convert the 
negroes to the Catholic religion, an appeal had been made to 
them to repair to St. Augustine, the seat of government of Florida. 
The Africans, thus liberated, were soon incorporated into a regi- 
ment, to be employed afterwards for the purpose of menacing an 
invasion of the settlements of the English in Carolina. 

In this state of things, and to prevent the desertion of their 
slaves, the Carolinians constructed a fort upon the Altamaha ; but, 
in a short time, this fort was destroyed by a party of Spaniards 
and Indians. The planters then petitioned the government of the 
mother country for the means of protecting their frontier, a cir- 
cumstance which, in a great measure, originated the new colony 
of Georgia. 

COLONY OF GEORGIA. 

The charter granted by George the Second, for the foundation 
of a new colony to the south of Carolina, is dated the 2d of June, 
1732, and contained the following principal features: — 

"His Majesty, having taken into consideration the distresses 
of a great number of his subjects, who are represented to be in 
a starving condition ; that a great number of strangers are ready 
to expatriate themselves to escape oppression; and wishing also 



156 AMERICAN POWER. 

to protect the southern frontier of South Carolina from the dangers 
to which it is exposed, in consequence of its limited number of 
white inhabitants, has been graciously pleased to grant a charter 
of incorporation to a certain number of gentlemen, under the title 
of Administrators of the Colony of Georgia in America. 

"The administrators are authorized to collect offerings and 
subscriptions, the proceeds of which are to be applied to clothe, 
arm, send out, and maintain a colony of poor English, or foreign- 
ers, to Georgia. 

"His Majesty has granted, for this purpose, all the lands com- 
prised between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, upon the 
coast, and included between two straight lines drawn from these 
rivers to the shores of the Pacific ocean, to fifteen administrators, 
as the domain of the province that is to bear the name of Georgia, 
to be governed for twenty-one years in the name of, and for the 
interests of, the poor." 

We must remark that, at the date of this concession, the rights 
of the French and Spaniards, on the west side of the Mississippi, 
were generally established and acknowledged. Nevertheless, the 
crown of England, according to custom, did not hesitate to grant 
rights of property over domains to which it could have no possible 
pretensions. 

" The administrators of the property are to receive no remunera- 
tion for their services, nor are they to enjoy any exclusive rights 
or privileges." 

Besides, the charter contained provisions for the administration 
and government of the colony, in which the acknowledgment of 
the principle of liberty of conscience was assumed as a fundamental 
basis. 

But, while Jews were received into the colony. Catholics were 
excluded! 

This spirit of intolerance towards the Catholics was manifested 
in all the colonies. But this need excite no astonishment when 
we reflect that the English emigrants w-ho had left their homes to 
establish these colonies were animated by a puritanical fanaticism. 
Even in Virginia, the Catholics remained until 1753, under the 
greatest political restrictions. 

The colony of Georgia was therefore created to strengthen the 
Carolina settlements, and to relieve the poor classes of England, 
and persecuted foreigners. 



SHAFTESBURY AND OGLETHORPE. 157 

The administrators, determining to transport, free of expense, 
the poor who wished to emigrate to the colony, made an appeal for 
funds for that object. Five hundred francs (one hundred dollars) 
entitled a colonist and his wife to a passage, an establishment, 
and support. The expense of a child was two hundred and fifty 
francs.* 

Shaftesbury and Oglethorpe were among the administrators, of 
which body the latter was one of the most active and devoted 
members. Placing himself at the head of the colony, he sailed, 
in January, 1733, with thirty-five families, whom he established 
temporarily upon the present site of Savannah. He then made 
an extensive reconnaissance of a great part of the interior of the 
country; contracted a treaty of peace and alliance with the na- 
tives ; and definitively established himself upon the site temporarily 
occupied by the colonists, where there was an Indian village 
called Yamanaw, the cession of which he had obtained from an 
old chief, Thoma-chi-chi. 

These emigrants immediately adopted municipal institutions, 
and from that day the little community advanced legally and 
prosperously towards its destiny. 

To protect this new colony from the incursions of the Indians 
or Spaniards, Oglethorpe built Fort Argyle in an advantageous 
position on the banks of the Savannah River. 

It is a remarkable fact, in the first administrative constitution 
of the colony of Georgia, under the direction of the delegated 
commissioners, that the use of ardent spirits and the introduction 
of slaves were prohibited by special provisions, although in full 

* Twenty hectares (about foi'ty acres) were allowed to each emigrant, 
who was required to put a part of it immediately under cultivation, under 
penalty of losing his rights. 

No proprietor could give away or sell his lands without the special per- 
mission of the administrative commissioners. 

The right of inheritance existed only in the male line. In case of de- 
fault of male issue, the lands reverted to the company. This restriction 
as to the right of property was founded upon the necessity of founding a 
military colony, where each person was to be a soldier and a farmer. 

The rich were allowed to purchase lands in Georgia, individually, to the 
amount of two hundred hectares (about four hundred acres), half of which, 
however, was to be cultivated within a given time. 

As these clauses appeared too onerous to the new colonists, the govern- 
ment was compelled to modify them. 



158 AMERICAN POWER. 

vigor in almost all the other English colonies. In South Carolina, 
there were forty thousand slaves to five thousand whites. 

This restrictive measure against the introduction of slave labor 
was adopted for the purpose of securing the object for which the 
colony had been created — provision for the necessities of the poor 
of England. To encourage their emigration and their labor, it 
was indispensable that the labor of the blacks should not be put 
in competition with that of the white colonists. Again, the admi- 
nistrative commissioners did not possess sufficient means for the 
purchase of slaves; and, finally, the vicinity of the Spaniards led 
to apprehensions that the latter might use their influence to decoy 
their slaves, and, by holding out to them the prospect of liberty, 
to induce them to desert. 

For these reasons, the introduction of slaves into Georgia was 
for a time prevented, though the influence of the English traders, 
then protected by the royal assent, and by Parliament, was con- 
stantly exerted to force this colony to submit to the same rule 
which governed the other English provinces in America. 

In 1734, Oglethorpe entered into an alliance wath a Choctaw 
chief, named Red Slipper, who afterwards became a very useful 
ally of the Americans in their attacks against the French settle- 
ments in Louisiana. 

In 1735, during Oglethorpe's temporary visit to England, nu- 
merous emigrations from Scotland furnished Georgia with valuable 
colonists. This colony was further augmented by emigrants, who 
were compelled to flee from the blind fanaticism of the Bishop of 
Salisbury. In 1737, Savannah already contained one hundred 
and forty houses. After the lapse of a century, its population 
amounts only to eleven thousand inhabitants. 

In 1737, Oglethorpe returned with troops to protect Georgia 
against the attacks of the Spaniards. 

In 1740, he made an attack upon St. Augustine, in Florida, 
and was repulsed with loss. Three years later, the Spaniards 
advanced upon the territory of Georgia with the intention of 
checking its colonization. Landing in St. Simon's Strait, they 
marched upon Frederica, a small, newly-formed borough at the 
head of the island of St. Simon. Oglethorpe advanced to meet 
them, attacked them at the head of a very strong detachment of 
Scotch Highlanders, and cut them to pieces. The field where 
this action was fought has since been known as the Bloody Swampy 



GEORGIA CHANGES ITS GOVERNMENT. 159 

in consequence of the great number of men who were driven into 
it and destroyed. 

The generous and virtuous Oglethorpe had founded the colony 
of Georgia in the hope of witnessing its prosperity under the 
influence of free labor. So long as he remained at the head of 
affairs, he used all his influence to resist the introduction of slaves, 
demanded by a majority of the people, who had accepted a regu- 
lation whereby slavery was expressly prohibited. This wise 
regulation, adopted by Oglethorpe, was, in 1751, unfortunately 
rescinded. 

At the same period, a great number of slaves, coming from the 
coast of Africa, were introduced into the colonies of Virginia and 
Maryland. 

At the expiration of the term of the grant, the proprietors re- 
signed their rights of administration, and Georgia was from that 
day governed directly by the officers of the crown. Captain John 
Reynolds was appointed governor by the king in 1754. 

In 1761, the boundary diflSculties between the Spaniards and 
English, on the Carolina frontier, were at length settled at the 
general peace. The Mississippi became the western boundary 
of the province, and St. Mary's River the common boundary be- 
tween Georgia and Florida. 

Georgia was then governed by a council of twenty-four mem- 
bers, who resided in England. This state of things did not 
harmonize with the necessities and exigencies of the colonists, 
who changed this mode of administration for a popular govern- 
ment, which was definitively installed in 1776. 

Such was, from the commencement, the administrative progress 
of the colony of Georgia, the youngest of the thirteen colonies 
which existed at the Revolution of 1776. 

During the first half of the eighteenth century, the English 
colonies made rapid progress under the happy influence of their 
local institutions, despite the circumstances which had never 
ceased to place them in opposition to the mother country. When, 
in 1755, hostilities again commenced between France and Eng- 
land relative to the boundary line of Acadia, of that part of the Iro- 
quois territory included in the western part of New York, and of 
the valley of the Mississippi, the population of the English colonies 
amounted already to one million forty-six thousand inhabitants, 
while that of New France did not exceed sixty-five thousand. It 



160 AMERICAN POWER. 

will therefore be observed that the relative population of the Eng- 
lish and French possessions was as sixteen to one, and that of 
New England and New France, the object of hostilities, as eight 
to one. 

The struggle which commenced between these two powers was 
consequently unequal with respect to numbers, and not less so in 
the efficiency of their troops, ammunitions of war, and the moral in- 
fluence of the political institutions by which the belligerent powers 
were swayed. The courage of the one party was stimulated only 
by the emulation attached to the career of arms in a warlike and 
honorable nation; that of the other by Puritan principles, by the 
hate of monarchy, and by the hope of possessing an object which 
they ardently coveted, the splendid territory of the west. 

The result could not be doubtful ; and the question of boundary 
must necessarily be decided against the interests of France, by 
the occupation not only of the contested territory, but also of all 
the contiguous country — or, rather, by dispossessing France of its 
legitimate rights, acquired by the discovery and colonization of 
the country. 

Such, in fact, were the results of the war of 1760. The treaty 
of peace, at Paris, in 1763, surrendered to Great Britain all the 
rights of France to Canada, comprising the immense and beautiful 
country of the north-west, of the lakes, and all the territory east 
of the Mississippi, a territory more than six thousand miles in 
extent. This act consolidated the prosperity of the American 
colonies; and if, at that period, England had known how to 
appreciate the grateful feelings entertained by the American colo- 
nists towards her for terminating the war with France so advan- 
tageously for them, she might for ever have preserved their loyalty 
and their submission. 

In 1760, an English garrison, under Major Roger, arrived to 
occupy Detroit, the chief town of the north-west settlements, the 
principal trading-post of the Indians. From that time, the ad- 
venturous American pioneer penetrated with greater boldness into 
those rich countries which he had already so long known how to 
appreciate. He darted on these lands, as it were, as on a prey 
which belonged to him, and drove from the soil its weak and in- 
dolent proprietors, whether Indian or Canadian. 

The Indians, however, failed not to perceive shortly the differ- 
ence of character between their new landlords and their old allies. 



^ BOLD CONCEPTION OF THE CHIEF PONTIAC. 161 

The French had been the friends of the red man, who, in return, 
had remained at peace with them. Nothing in their pacific and 
quiet manners appeared formidable. This state of things ceased 
to exist on the arrival of the Anglo-Americans, who were more 
turbulent, more active, and exhibited a more ardent desire to 
appropriate to themselves the territory of the Indian. 

Under these circumstances, these children of the forest mani- 
fested a daring spirit. They conceived the bold design of driv- 
ing the usurping race back to its original limits, and of thus, 
as it were, avenging their ancient and faithful allies, the French. 
Pontiac, chief of the Ottoways, was the skillful author of this pro- 
ject. Equally remarkable for penetration of mind and for cunning, 
he visited in person all the tribes which dwelt within an area of 
more than six hundred miles. Calling their chiefs together, he 
communicated to them his plan. He proposed that they should 
march to the frontier of their common enemy, and simultaneously 
attack all the English posts on a line extending more than twelve 
hundred miles. This plan was adopted by all the combined 
tribes, and on the day fix'ed for the general assault, the Indians, 
faithful to their engagements, suddenly fell upon all the posts on 
the frontier. The important station of Michilimackinac was 
taken, the fort burnt, and all the white residents put to death by 
the tomahawk. 

Pontiac commanded the attack upon Detroit in person, as this 
was the most important post on the frontier. The fort was cap- 
tured after a dreadful slaughter of the besieged. All the other 
posts suffered the same fate, with the exception of Niagara and 
Pittsburgh, which almost miraculously escaped the terrible ven- 
geance of the red man. Doubtless, had it not been for the timely 
assistance of the English reinforcements, which had arrived in 
haste under the orders of Colonel Bouquet, the vast project of 
the brave and skillful Indian warrior might have had an issue 
fatal to the dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race in that part of the 
New World, Still, notwithstanding the result, the period was 
one of cruel reprisals made by the Indian to satisfy his hatred of 
the white race. 

This bloody episode in the war of the aborigines, undertaken 

through hatred of the Anglo-Americans, and as a proof of the 

fidelity of the Indians towards their first allies, was the last act 

of this long drama of battles, as cruel as they were sanguinary 

11 



162 AMERICAN POWER. 

and unjust, fought between France and England upon American 
soil. It terminated that seven years' war which decided the fate 
of the French possessions in America, the whole population of 
which passed over to the domination of Great Britain. But though 
Canada was thus made to change masters, it has always been 
found impossible to change the sympathies of its people, or their 
deep and jealous hatred of their conquerors, and especially of their 
Anglo-American neighbors. 

It was my determination to record, in a historical inquiry, the 
signal conception of the Ottoway warrior, which is so directly 
connected with the influence which my compatriots so long ex- 
erci^d in America. It should have found a place in a work in 
which I have had at heart the desire to claim the credit which 
belongs to France in the civilization and occupation of the New 
World. 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIES. 163 



CHAPTER XV. 
1763—1783. 

ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIES. UNITED STATES. 

Occupation of the western countries by the Americans — Recollections of the 
French settlers in those countries — Visit of General Lefebvre Desnouettes to St. 
Genevieve — Struggle between England and her colonies — The metropolis at- 
tempts to impose restrictions on the commerce of the colonies — Stamp Act — 
Ferment which it occasions — Convocation of a congress in New York proposed 
by the Assembly of Massachusetts — Repeal of the Stamp Act — New custom house 
bill — American associations against English commerce — Military occupation of 
Boston — The Assembly of Virginia and other colonies vote remonstrances — Fer- 
ment of the people, and the crisis which it produces in Boston — Symptoms of 
irritation rapidly disclosed in all the colonies — A cargo of tea thrown overboard 
at Boston — Closing of the port of Boston — Formation of a general congress in 
Philadelphia — Composition of this first assembly — Resolutions adopted by it — 
Restrictions of the commerce of the provinces of New England by the English 
Parliament — Climax of the causes of dissension between the mother country and 
her colonies' — Levying of troops in New England; battle of Lexington; of 
Bunker Hill — Second session of Congress in Philadelphia — Manifesto published 
by this assembly — A levy of twenty thousand men voted by Congress — George 
Washington, a member from Virginia, elected commander-in-chief of the forces 
of the Confederation — Washington's arrival at Cambridge — Attack and capture 
of Montreal by the Americans under General Montgomery — Quebec attacked — 
Death of Montgomery — Thomas Paine — His "Common Sense" — Sitting of the 
Federal Congress on the 8th of June, 1776 — Declaration of Independence — Act 
of Confederation — Treaty of alliance and commerce between the United States 
and France — Powerful co-operation of this great ally — Capitulation of Yorktowri 
— England acknowledges the independence of the United States — Definitive 
treaty of peace between France, England, and the United States — Respective 
boundaries fixed by this treaty — Advantages reserved by the contracting parties. 

England, at the close of the war with France in 1760, occu- 
pied, almost without opposition, all the territory in North America, 
with the exception of Florida, still in the possession of Spain, and 
Louisiana, reserved to France by the treaty of Paris, but already 
ceded to Spain by the secret treaty of the 3d November, 1762. 

France, by the treaty of 1763, ceded to England all the country 
on the left bank of the Mississippi which she either occupied or 



164 AMERICAN POWER. 

claimed, and the American colonies, which extended to the shores 
of this river, thus became consolidated in their political existence. 

The period of occupation, by the French, of the western coun- 
tries, and of the borders of the lakes, had just terminated. A 
second commenced, that of England. 

The first had endured almost a century, since the discovery of 
the territory by the missionaries and the brave La Salle. Never- 
theless, the French adventurers had settled nothing, had created 
nothing. They arrived as voyagers and hunters; and as voyagers 
and hunters they lived. Their assimilation to the mode of life of 
the Indians was more complete than that of the Indians to the 
morals and manners they brought among them. Consequently, 
what is left, at this day, of the residence of our compatriots in 
these countries, undoubtedly the most beautiful on the continent 
of America ? Some ruins of fortifications — scarcely a reminis- 
cence! Here and there, and at great distances apart, a French 
family, often mixed with Indian blood, cultivating with indiffer- 
ence, and without forethought, a small square of land, on which 
a few fruit trees from France recall the memory of home. 

Nevertheless, we should remark that, although our unfortunate 
compatriots have proved themselves indifferent to their interests 
upon American soil, still their lively recollection of their country, 
their love of glory, and their devotion to all that is French, do 
them infinite honor. 

Enter the dwelling of a Frenchman in Illinois, Michigan, or 
Missouri. Let him discover by your accent that you come from 
the old country, from his dear France; and this man, who just 
before had appeared stupid, without feeling, and indolent, be- 
comes as eager and zealous to testify his joy and pleasure as he 
had before been slow to accost you. He seems animated with a 
new life, which he derives from traditionary recollections. He 
will inform you that his grandfather was a Frenchman, wuth that 
frankness, that accent which convey so much meaning! "I am 
a Frenchman!" — and his eyes will fill with tears. He thinks of 
the land of his fathers, and in seeing you, he is reminded of the 
glories of France. 

In 1817, I traveled through the Western States, accompanied 
by the brave General Lefebvre Desnouettes, a chevalier of the 
Empire without fear and without reproach. We had traversed 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and were proceeding from Kaskaskia to 



REMINISCENCE OF GENERAL DESNOUETTES. 165 



St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi, in the State of Missouri. An 
old Canadian, assisted by two Indians, had conveyed us across 
the river in the ferry boat which plies between these two towns, 
situated on opposite shores. While crossing, we had spoken of 
the country we were visiting, and of France, which we had left 
after her days of mourning. The name and title of the general 
had several times been mentioned in the course of conversation. 
The old master of the boat had heard and comprehended every- 
thing. He saw a living wreck of those glorious phalanxes, the 
fame of whose lofty deeds had reached even the shores of the 
Missouri, and had even excited the admiration of the red man. 
His enthusiasm was at its height. 

St. Genevieve is not immediately on the banks of the river. 
The prudent inhabitants of that town had built it a short distance 
from the shore, that it might not be exposed to the rise of the 
Mississippi, which, at each overflow, carries away a portion of 
its banks. It required several minutes to reach the town ; but 
our arrival had already been announced. One of our Indians 
had given the information to the inhabitants, who came in crowds 
to welcome the general. They seized him, touched him as the 
man of miracles. He had seen and spoken to the Emperor; they 
fancied they saw and conversed with Napoleon. Country, honor, 
Napoleon, all these feelings were blended in the sight of an illus- 
trious Frenchman. In fine, obliged to alight from our horses to 
gratify the generous impulses of these old Canadians, we reached 
the town as they were firing a salute in honor of a general of 
Napoleon. 

I had determined not to interlard this historical summary with 
any narrative that related to my personal feelings or to my recol- 
lections. But I could not resist the temptation to record this 
incident. It is a very bright flower among many striking remi- 
niscences! 

The strife which had already commenced between England 
and her colonies at the close of the seventeenth, continued through 
the whole of the eighteenth century, and was only kept in abey- 
ance by an object ecjually dear both to the mother country and 
to her colonies — the defence of their frontiers against the Indians, 
with the dispossession of a rival nation whose vicinity and influ- 
ence were inconvenient. But England was evidently gradually 
losing her claims to the fidelity of the American colonies. The 



166 AMERICAN POWER. 

great day when it was to become the sacred duty of the people to 
protect themselves by force was approaching. The Divine hand 
had marked it. 

The American colonies had sprung up in the midst of a long 
series of trials. They discovered that they possessed within them- 
selves a principle of existence. They wished to take advantage 
of the restoration of peace to improve their condition, and to place 
their prosperity upon a more solid foundation. 

The mother country had observed their continued growth. She 
wished to direct them at pleasure ; and sought every available 
means to preserve that ascendency over them by which she might 
continue to retain them in a state of dependence. 

She at first attempted to impose restrictions upon their com- 
merce as compensation for the expense of their protection. The 
Americans never formally acknowledged the legitimacy of this 
right; but they did not refuse the payment of the impost. 

The war which England had maintained in America against 
France had considerably increased her debt. She therefore wanted 
her colonies to bear a part of this burden. For this purpose, in 

1764, a proposition was made in Parliament to establish stamp 
duties in the American colonies. This impost was to apply to 
all the acts of courts of justice, of chancery, whether civil or 
ecclesiastical, of universities, or of courts of admiralty. It applied 
to the sentences of a court, to commercial licences, to insurances, 
to letters of marque, to the transfer of payments, to all contracts 
relating to the transmission of property by inheritance, by sale, or 
by grants. It even extended to pamphlets, to almanacs, to all 
daily publications. The proceeds of this duty were to be applied 
to meet the expenses required for the protection and defence of 
the colonies. 

England was anxious to convert the proposition for a stamp 
act into a law ; and when the bill was again brought forward in 

1765, before the House of Commons, by Grenville, then prime 
minister. General Conway was the only one that dared to protest 
against the measure, declaring that it exceeded the powers of 
Parliament, as the colonies were not represented. 

This law alienated all minds; and the ferment increased so 
rapidly in the colonies that they no longer hesitated to show their 
resentment. 

As soon as the news reached America that the Stamp Act, 



EFFECT OF THE STAMP ACT. 167 

which had passed the House of Commons on the 7th of February, 
1765, had afterwards been approved by the House of Lords and 
received the royal sanction, the legislative Assembly of Virginia 
declared that that colony was not bound to obey any law imposing 
taxes, unless such law had been passed by its own authorities. 
The governor dissolved the assembly, and ordered new elections. 
But all the members who had voted against the Stamp Act were 
re-elected; w^hile none were re-elected who had voted in favor of 
it; so that the declaration became unanimous. It was on this 
occasion that Patrick Henry first made himself conspicuous for 
his rare and transcendent talents, and his heroic eloquence in 
support of the liberties of his country. 

The same resolution was passed in the province of Massachu- 
setts; and one of the most distinguished members of the legis- 
lature, James Otis, had the courage to propose a combination to 
resist encroachment upon their rights and their prerogatives as 
English citizens. He proposed to convoke a congress on the 1st 
of October, 1765, to which deputies from all the colonies should 
be invited to devise measures of public interest, required by the 
exigencies of circumstances. 

This generous resolution was favorably received by a majority 
of the colonies; and Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the governments of the 
counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware, and the 
provinces of Maryland and South Carolina, hastened to send to 
the assembly their representatives. 

The governors of the other colonies opposed this measure and 
refused to send representatives. The assembly convened at New 
York. It proclaimed the right of the colonies to resist the im- 
position of any taxes except such as were authorized by themselves ; 
and at once resolved to send a petition to the king and to both 
Houses of Parliament to revoke the odious law, and to permit the 
free exercise of domestic legislation. 

These representations, and this unanimous resistance, produced 
a deep sensation in England. In 1766, Parliament repealed the 
Stamp 'Act. While it asserted its right to maintain its legislative 
authority, it admitted that this should be exercised with caution. 
As the right to establish a revenue tariff had not been so actively 
contested, this species of taxation was resorted to. 

Consequently, in 1767, the ministers presented a new bill in 



168 AMERICAN POWER. 

Parliament, imposing a duty upon tea, glass, paper, and paints, 
exported from England into the colonies. The proceeds were to 
be applied to the salaries and pensions paid by the government 
in America, whether for the administration of the colonies or for 
their defence ; and the surplus was to remain at the disposal of 
Parliament. 

This law was to take effect on the 20ih of October, 1767. As 
soon as the colonies were informed of this new attack upon their 
privileges, they exhibited the most violent opposition. 

The Legislature of Massachusetts, which met at the beginning 
of 1768, addressed a protest against this new impost to the king, 
to the two Houses of Parliament, and to the principal persons who 
had advocated the repeal of the Stamp Act. It also addressed a 
circular to the other legislatures of the colonies, in which their 
attention was called to the dangers which threatened them, and 
to the encroachments of the crown upon their rights and privileges 
as English citizens. In consequence of the publication of this 
address, the governor ordered a dissolution of the assembly. A 
new one was convoked; but it confirmed the resolutions of the 
preceding one. 

At this conjuncture, associations against English commerce 
were formed. The people of the colonies resolved to abandon 
the use of tea; and sumptuary resolutions were passed. 

In 1768, Boston was occupied by the English troops, with the 
object of enforcing the execution of the custom laws. Parliament 
even declared that violators of the law should be removed to 
England for trial. 

The Assembly of Virginia immediately addressed remonstrances 
to the British government against these proceedings; but, as these 
met with no success, the citizens resolved, by means of asso- 
ciations gradually formed in all the colonies, to break off all 
commercial relations with England, and to receive none of her 
importations. 

The Legislature of Massachusetts declared that it could not 
deliberate freely so long as the city was occupied by a garrison. 
It refused the subsidies demanded for the support of the English 
troops. The same declarations were made by the Legislatures 
of New York, Maryland, and Delaware. 

The British government, at length renouncing in part its de- 



EXCITEMENT IN BOSTON. 169 

mands, consented to revoke the duties on glass, paper, and paints; 
and to retain only the duties on tea. 

The continuance of this last tax, induced, in 1770, stormy dis- 
cussions in Boston, where the excitement was much greater than 
at any other port. In the month of March of this year, a contest 
took place between the troops of the garrison and the citizens. A 
post was assailed by the multitude, and several men were killed 
in the bloody encounter. The excitement of the people became 
intense, and the removal of the garrison was required. It retired 
to Fort William in the harbor. 

Two years passed by, in partial measures and in useless en- 
deavors at conciliation between the two parties. The commerce 
of the metropolis with the colonies was checked by associations 
which refused to receive its productions. The administration of 
customs fettered in turn the intercourse of the colonies with other 
nations; and this state of things induced active smuggling. 

In the meanwhile, other symptoms of irritation began to appear. 
A central committee, established at Boston, corresponded with 
several principal committees; and these with other bodies. This 
organization was followed in all the other colonies. Public opinion 
everywhere, and its influence in the councils of state, daily gained 
strength. The people were resolved to resist the encroachments 
of the British government. 

The arrival of several cargoes of tea, which the English East 
India Company had shipped from London to Boston, soon pre- 
sented the opportunity of a manifestation of public feeling. The 
people would not allow it to be landed; they demanded the im- 
mediate departure of the vessels. The demand was refused. The 
people then boarded the vessels, and threw the tea overboard. 
The same refusal was extended to other shipments arriving at 
New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. 

This long series of acts of resistance on the part of the Ame- 
ricans against the authority of Great Britain determined the 
English ministry to treat the city of Boston with severity, as they 
considered it the focus of the rebellion. Lord North, then prime 
minister, on the 14th of March, 1774, presented a bill in Parlia- 
ment, which closed the port of Boston, and transferred its com- 
mercial privileges to Salem. A second bill deprived the colony 
of Massachusetts of the privilege of appointing its judges and 
magistrates, and transferred the right of their election to the 



170 1 AMERICAN POWER. 

crown. And finally, by a third bill, all individuals accused of 
acts of violence against the public officers were either to be tried 
in other colonies, or to be transported for trial to England. 

In the same year. Parliament passed the "Quebec" bill. This 
bill augmented the privileges of the Canadians, and restored to 
them the administrative organization they enjoyed under the rule 
of France. It also recognized the supremacy of their religion. 
By this means. Parliament sought to conciliate the affections of 
the people of a colony recently acquired, who might still regret 
the domination of France. 

These new laws were to take effect on the 1st of June, 1774. 
At the news of their sanction by Parliament, a deep and general 
feeling of grief was manifested throughout all the colonies. The 
Legislature of Virginia decreed that that day should be devoted 
to mourning, fasting, and prayer. The Assembly of Massachu- 
setts called for the formation of a general congress. The same 
wish was expressed by all the other provinces. All appointed 
their delegates to this congress, whose opening session was fixed 
for the 4th of September, in Philadelphia. 

This assembly was composed of fifty-one members, who chose 
for their president Peyton Randolph of Virginia, of which the fol- 
lowing is a list : — 

New Hampshire: John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsora. 

Massachusetts Bay: Thomas Gushing, Samuel Adams, John 
Adams, and Robert Treat Paine. 

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward. 

Connecticut: Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, and Silas Deane. 

New York: Isaac Low, John Alsop, John Jay, James Duane, 
William Floyd, Henry Weisner, and Samuel Bocrum. 

Pennsylvania: Joseph Galloway, Charles Humphreys, John 
Dickenson, Thomas Mifflin, Edward Biddle, John Morton, and 
George Ross. 

Newcastle, &c.: Csesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, and George 
Read. 

Maryland: Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, William 
Paca, and Samuel Chase. 

Virginia: Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, Jr., Richard Bloud, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund 
Pendleton. 



GENERAL CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA. 171 

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and R. Cos- 
well. 

South Carolina : Henry Middleton, Thomas Lynch, Christopher 
Gadsden, John Rutledge, and Edward Rutledge. 

The province of Georgia did not send its delegates till the fol- 
lowing year. This assembly discussed, in the most deliberate 
manner, the civil, political, and commercial interests of the two 
countries, and adverted to the natural ties by which they were 
united, the advantages to result from perseverance, unanimity, 
and good feeling, and the unfortunate consequences of a rupture. 
It recapitulated all the grievances which the colonies had endured ; 
asked satisfaction for them ; and addressed a touching appeal to 
the people of England, reminding them of the ties which bound 
them to the Americans. 

It also made an appeal to the Canadians, warned them of all 
the dangers to their liberties involved in the practical operation 
of the "Quebec" bill, and invited them to unite with the Ame- 
rican party. 

In short, the assembly addressed a proclamation to the colonies, 
portraying, in the most vivid colors, the infractions of their pri- 
vileges, and encouraged them to resistance, and warned them 
against all attempts at disunion. 

It was necessary that several months should elapse before the 
result of the deliberations of this congress, which adjourned on 
the 26th of October, to meet on the 10th of May, 1775, could be 
appreciated. The resolutions it passed were approved by all the 
colonial assemblies; and the colonies prepared to resist by force 
of arms. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia raised 
militia. In New "England, the zeal of the people appeared still 
more exalted. 

In 1775, a parliamentary law restricted the commerce of the 
New England colony to the British possessions in Europe, and to 
the West Indies. The right to fish on the Banks of Newfound- 
land, an essential element in their prosperity, was prohibited. By 
the same parliamentary measure, the commerce of the southern 
colonies was confined to England alone. 

This act constituted the climax of the causes of dissension be- 
tween the mother country and her colonies. The insurrection 
assumed a threatening aspect. Munitions of war were collected. 
The New England States ordered a levy of troops, and the other 



172 AMERICAN POWER. 

colonies followed their example. Finally, an armed strife com- 
menced ; and the battle of Lexington, which took place on the 
■19th of April, 1775, became the signal for war. 

This battle was soon followed, on the 17th of June, by another 
not less memorable, that of Bunker Hill, where the brave General 
Warren was killed. 

The national Congress was holding its second session in Phila- 
delphia, according to adjournment, while these manifestations of 
courage and patriotism, on the part of the people of New England, 
were taking place. Its first care was to consider the means of 
resisting the common enemy. The necessity of general co-ope- 
ration was most sensibly felt. Each member saw the necessity 
of conferring the strength of all the colonies, and the power of 
acting in their name, on a federal head. Fortunately for the great 
object proposed, this legislative assembly was remarkable for the 
number of its talented men, accustomed to business, possessing 
legislative knowledge, and distinguished especially by entire and 
disinterested devotion to their country. 

The proposition to assume a confederative organization was 
preceded by a manifesto. In this manifesto, all that the colonies 
had suffered w^as in a solemn manner proclaimed: the attempts 
made to deprive them of their privileges ; the necessity which 
had compelled them to take up arms in their defence; and their 
determined resolution to lay them down only when the perils of 
their country had ceased. 

This assembly also voted to raise an army of twenty thousand 
men, at the expense of the confederation, and gave the command 
of it to George Washington, a member from Virginia, who desired 
no other pay than his necessary expenses. 

General Washington took command of the army in the month 
of July, 1775, and repaired to head quarters, then at Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, where the war had already commenced. 

In the meanwhile, to divert the English from concentrating 
their forces upon the coast of New England, Congress resolved 
to send an expedition into the province of Lower Canada. An 
American division, embarked on Sorrel River in August, 1775, 
was rapidly carried to its mouth, with the object of cutting off 
all communication between Upper and Lower Canada. Another 
division, led by General Montgomery, crossed from Fort St. John 
to Montreal, landed without opposition at the island on which the 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 173 

city is situated, and took undisputed possession of it in September. 
General Montgomery then proceeded to attack Quebec, which he 
attempted to carry by main force, in the December of an exces- 
sively severe winter, amid a very heavy fall of snow. The Ame- 
rican general braved all obstacles, and was about to take possession 
of the last battery which held out, when he was struck down by 
a discharge of grape and canister, bequeathing to his fellow-citi- 
zens the name of another hero to be enrolled among the patriots 
who had died in the cause of liberty and independence. 

The death of Montgomery was the cause of the failure of the 
attack upon Quebec ; and the severity of the winter induced a 
mutual cessation of hostilities, to be renewed with vigor in the 
spring. 

The condition of affairs day by day assumed a graver aspect. 
The unequal struggle between England and her still growing 
colonies gave a decided preponderance to ideas of independence. 
Several remarkable productions seemed to favor this enthusiasm. 
That of Thomas Paine, entitled "Common Sense," exerted an 
overpowering influence. It rendered the sentiment of independ- 
ence national ; and Congress, being the organ of public opinion, 
soon prepared to adopt this sentiment. By the resolution of the 
8th of May, 1776, each colony was requested to reject all authority 
emanating from the British crown, and to establish a form of 
government that would accord with the particular interest of each 
State, and with that of the whole confederation. 

At the memorable session of the 8th of June, Richard Henry 
Lee, of Virginia, proposed the solemn proclamation of the in- 
dependence of the colonies. He was seconded by John Adams, 
of Massachusetts. On the 14th of June, a committee was ap- 
pointed to report upon this great question. This committee was 
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sher- 
man, and Philip Livingston. 

On the 2d of July, the Declaration of Independence was sub- 
mitted to Congress, discussed, and unanimously adopted. The 
3d was a day of fasting and prayer. On the 4th, the great reso- 
lution was officially promulgated. The Republic of the United 
States thus prepared to resist the oppressive acts of the mother 
country, in this first act of nationality, by a preliminary religious 
manifestation. 

The constitutional form of government recommended for the 



174 AMERICAN POWER. 

adoption of the confederation was not submitted to Congress by 
its committee until the 12th of July, 1777. It was proposed by 
this assembly on the 15th of the following November, and defini- 
tively approved by all the delegates from the States in March, 
1781. 

Three or four years were spent in discussing the important 
question, what rights and powers each State should vest in the 
federal government, to enable it to act most efficiently for the 
common defence. 

Meanwhile, war, with its burdens, and its alternations of reverse 
and success, raged throughout the country. A treaty of commerce 
and alliance had, it is true, in 1778, been concluded between 
France and the United States. The intervention and efficient 
assistance of this powerful ally had thus been obtained in favor 
of the cause of liberty in the New World. Finally, on the I8th 
of October, 1781, Yorktown capitulated; and Lord Cornwallis, 
with the English forces, surrendered to the combined armies of 
America and France. A day for ever glorious and memorable, 
which terminated, so advantageously for the Americans, the war 
of Independence! 

In 1782, the independence of the United States was acknow- 
ledged by England ; and in 1783, a definitive treaty of peace was 
concluded between France, England, and the United States. By 
this treaty, the boundaries of their respective territories were fixed. 
That of the United States was separated from the British posses- 
sions in America by the River St. Croix towards Nova Scotia, and 
from Lower Canada by the chain of highlands which separates 
the waters which flow into the Atlantic Ocean from those which 
empty into the St. Lawrence. This line, extended to the sources 
of the Connecticut River, whose course it was to follow to the 
forty-fifth degree of latitude, was to take a westerly direction to 
the St. Lawrence ; then to ascend the bed of this river, cross all 
the great lakes from east to west, and extend to the north-west of 
the Lake of the Woods. Thence it was to be prolonged to the 
Mississippi, which was to serve as a line of demarkation to the 
thirty-first degree. The boundary between the United States and 
Florida was to be fixed by a line drawn west to east from the 
Mississippi to the Apalachicola. Descending this river to its 
junction with the Mississippi, the line was to extend direct to 



THE AMERICAN UNION. 175 

the sources of the River St, Mary, whose course it was to follow 
to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The United States held possession of all the islands within sixty- 
miles of the coast, excepting those which heretofore had been 
comprised within the limits of Nova Scotia. 

They also retained the right of fishing on the Banks of New- 
foundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and wherever, in 
fact, the English and Americans had been in the habit of fishing. 
France retained the same right to the north and west of New- 
foundland, from Cape St. John to Cape Raye. She had entire 
possession of the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Lastly, the 
navigation of the Mississippi was declared to be free to France, 
England, and the United States, from its sources to the ocean. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
1783—1800. 

THE AMERICAN UNION. 

Financial condition of the United States on the return of peace — Congress enacts a 
law for the settlement of the country to the north-west of the Ohio — Weakness 
of the General Congress to administer the affairs of the United States — New 
constitution proposed and adopted — Congress of 1789; General Washington 
elected President of the Union — Amendments to the new constitution — First 
official census of the United States — Secretaries of State, of War, and Treasury, 
constituted — The courts of justice organized — Supreme court — District courts — 
Organization of the public revenue — Collection of customs — Building and support 
of light houses, signals, &c., for the security of navigation — Alexander Hamilton 
presents his celebrated report upon the finances — Creation of a national bank — 
Monetary system — The United States select a federal district, and found the city 
of Washington, which becomes the seat of the principal federal authorities, of 
Congress, and the capital of the United States — Recapitulation of the his- 
torical summary of the English colonies — The principle of independence as old 
as the colonies — New History of the United States by George Bancroft — History 
of the American Revolution by Jared Sparks — The principle of the Union very 
ancient; its strength drawn from the variety of the elements which compose it — 
Great example furnished by the American democracy. 

At the restoration of peace, the United States found themselves 
in a very disastrous pecuniary situation. When they embarked 



176 AMERICAN POWER. 

in thai struggle, which terminated only after a seven years' war, 
the colonies were ill prepared to sustain so weighty a burden. 
The misery of the country was therefore complete, its commerce 
annihilated. 

Every mind was then directed to the perfection of the social 
organization, to the means of repairing the evils of the war, 
of reviving domestic prosperity, of co-ordinating the relations of 
the States of the confederation, and of combining their strength 
in a single sheaf. The desire of cementing their union and 
harmony, and of concentrating their means of defence, animated 
the minds of all the members of Congress; but this great object 
became much more difficult to accomplish, in consequence of the 
great national territory, including all the country to the north-west 
of the Ohio, acquired by treaties of peace. 

On the 18th of July, 1787, Congress passed an act in which 
the basis of the new colonies to be established in this new ter- 
ritory w'as traced. But many difficulties between the United 
States and England still remained unsettled, the origin of which 
dated from the war of independence; for all the clauses of the 
treaty of peace had not yet been fulfdled. The principal of these 
concerned the commercial relations of the United States with 
England, because, by the first constitution, each State reserved 
to itself the right of regulating its own commerce. The cor- 
respondence which took place on this subject between the English 
government and the special agent of the United States was pro- 
ductive of no satisfactory result. England pretended that the 
laws of the confederation had neither sufficient harmony nor sta- 
bility to ensure their execution in a manner both consistent and 
complete. 

This was a powerful obstacle. The United States saw the 
necessity of adopting a more regular system in all their foreign 
transactions, and of founding the stability of their new relations on 
a constitution which w^ould give more strength to the Federal 
Union and to the power charged with its maintenance. Under 
these circumstances, feeling conscious of its own weakness, Con- 
gress officially declared, on the 24th of February, 1787, its own 
inability to regulate the interests of the confederation with their 
granted powers, and appealed, in their emergency, to the people, 
whence these powers were derived. 

A committee of twenty-five members was then appointed, 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 177 

among whom were Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, 
and Morris, to draft the American Constitution, which still exists 
as the fundamental law of the American Union. In presenting 
this constitution to Congress, Washington announced with what 
views it had been drawn up. It was the conviction of legislators 
that it was impossible to assure an independent sovereignty to each 
of the different States, and at the same time to provide for the in- 
terests and security of all. They had looked upon their union as 
necessary to their prosperity, to their strength, and probably to their 
national existence ; and this opinion, deeply impressed upon their 
minds, had disposed all the States to a mutual deference, and to 
concessions necessary to the prosperity of the whole confederation. 

Congress took no action itself relative to the constitution pro- 
posed by the committee, but referred it to the different States of 
the Union, each of which was invited to call a convention of its 
own citizens to discuss it. If the constitution should be ratified 
by nine States, the people were immediately, according to the 
forms it prescribed, to proceed to elect a President of the United 
States. 

The deliberations of a special convention, which had taken in 
view all national interests, and of thirteen distinct conventions, 
occupied solely in discussing the same questions, and in examin- 
ing the relations of the common interest to that of each State, were 
the result of the most luminous and impartial mode of discussion 
that can be conceived. This method assured, from the beginning, 
a general concurrence of opinion relative to the constitution that 
was adopted. North Carolina and Rhode Island were the only 
States that at first refused to ratify it. A new Congress was con- 
voked at New York on the 4th of May, 1789; and when the two 
houses were completely organized, they proceeded to count the 
voles that had been returned from the general assemblies of all 
the States for the election of President of the United States. For 
this office, Washington received their unanimous vote ; and John 
Adams, who had received the next highest number of votes, was 
proclaimed Vice-President. 

Thus ended the acts of the Federal Congress, which, after hav- 
ing laboriously and honorably overcome all the difficulties of war 
and domestic agitation, at length saw firmly established, by 
treaties and by wise institutions, the independence of the United 
States. 
12 



178 AMERICAN POWER. 

Two years elapsed between the presentation and the positive 
adoption of the new constitution of the United States. During 
this interval, the views of all the legislatures, and the opinions of 
all the most enlightened men in the country, had been obtained 
concerning it. Several amendments, which appeared necessary, 
were discussed in the new Congress and adopted. They were 
then, like the articles of the constitution, submitted to the examina- 
tion of the different States, and approved. Subsequent experi- 
ence led to the adoption of a few additional modifications relative 
to the powers of the judiciary, and the manner of electing the 
President. 

The States, by this constitution, conceded to the central govern- 
ment the right of watching over the general interests of the con- 
federation ; of providing for its necessities by levying taxes, and 
imposing duties on imports and exports ; of regulating commer- 
cial relations with foreign powers, as well as between the several 
States of the Union, and with the Indian nations. The year 1789 
must, then, be regarded as the period whence dates the third 
period of American history, that of the Union, which, since that 
time, has been in complete practical operation. 

The Congress of 1790 ordered the first census of the United 
States to be taken. The white population in the thirteen States 
then amounted to 3,231,930, and that of the slaves to 697,897; 
total, 3,929,827. 

From the very commencement of the session, Congress was 
employed in organizing the various departments of the govern- 
ment. The secretaries of state, of war, and of the treasury were 
instituted. To these eminent offices Washington appointed Jef- 
ferson, General Knox, and Alexander Hamilton. The navy was 
at that time under the control of the State Department, and was 
not separated from it until the year 1801. 

The courts of justice of the United States were organized by a 
law of the 24th of September, 1789. The Supreme Court was to 
hold its sessions annually at the seat of government ; and the dis- 
trict courts were to be held within the jurisdiction of the several 
States of the Union. Between these two jurisdictions, several 
circuit courts were established, as appellant tribunals, in a given 
range of cases. From the decisions of the circuit and district 
courts, an appeal could be made to the Supreme Court under 
certain restrictions. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE JUDICIARY. 179 

This great tribunal formed, with the circuit and district courts, 
an independent judicial hierarchy, in its action and object, apart 
from the tribunals established by each State for the ordinary ad- 
ministration of justice. And the line of demarkation is so very 
distinctly drawn, that no judicial conflict can ever arise between 
them. The one class of tribunals is intended to defend the in- 
terests and to maintain the bonds of the association ; the other to 
protect the life and property of the citizens of each State. 

The federative form of the government of the United States 
required the establishment of this complex authority, not only in 
relation to the judicial order, but with respect to the administra- 
tion of the public revenues ; one of which belongs especially to 
the States, the others to the whole confederation. Thus, Congress 
was empowered to regulate customs duties, and the duties on 
tonnage and navigation — the sale of the public lands — and to 
execute all the laws whose object is to increase the revenues and 
pay the expenses of the United States. 

A law determined the different ports where custom-houses were 
to be organized and duties collected, and where captains of vessels 
should declare their importations. This law established collectors, 
inspectors, and the other agents attached to this service. It em- 
bodied a code of regulations, with the penalties attached to their 
transgression. 

The expense of maintaining light-houses, signals, buoys, and 
beacons placed for the security of navigation, was defrayed by the 
federal government. Other laws had reference to the fisheries, to the 
coasting trade, and to the regulations of ports. All parts of the 
marine service were subjected to common regulations, in all that 
concerned foreign relations, and the collection of public revenues. 

In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, pre- 
sented to Congress his famous report on the debt of the United 
States, and on the means of paying it, and thus improving the 
public credit. The public debt then amounted, in foreign and 
domestic loans, to over sixty-four million dollars. 

The debts of individual States, which had been incurred in main- 
taining and paying the expenses of the war, were placed on the 
same footing as those of the confederation, and the public treasury 
was equally charged with their payment. 

Hamilton's report was discussed in Congress ; and, on the 4th 



180 AMERICAN POWER. 

of August, 1790, a law was passed providing the means of dis- 
charging this debt. 

The President of the United States was authorized to borrow 
twelve million dollars, for the payment of tlie arrearages, the in- 
terest, and a part of the capital of the foreign debt. 

The proceeds of the sale of the public lands, situated in the 
western country, were assigned as security for the loans made for 
the payment of the debt of the United States. 

At that time, Hamilton, desirous of establishing the public 
credit upon a more extended basis, proposed the establishment of 
a national bank with a capital of ten million dollars. 

The creation of this institution met with strenuous opposition ; 
but, on the 4th of March, 1791, the bill finally passed. The bank 
was chartered for twenty years. During its existence, no other 
bank could be established by a law of the United States. 

On the 8th of May, 1791, a law was passed, regulating the 
money of the United States. The dollar was assumed as the 
basis, to which the larger and smaller coins were to bear a specific 
relation. The dollar is divided into one hundred parts. The 
mint was established in Philadelphia. 

The leading object of the legislators of the United States was 
to secure domestic peace by strengthening the federal compact. 
That their deliberations might be removed from all local influences, 
they resolved to select a site for the seat of government which 
should be under the sole jurisdiction of the United States. The 
situation selected was on the banks of the Potomac, near its eastern 
branch, and in a district ten miles square, ceded to the United 
States by Maryland and Virginia. Washington there commenced 
the establishment of a city which bears his name. Ten years 
subsequently, it became the principal seat of the federal author- 
ities, to which Congress removed to hold its regular sessions. 

Such are the principal features of the governmental organiza- 
tion of the American Union. 

The two first periods of American history doubtless abound 
with scenes of great interest, since they exhibit to us the slow 
but progressive operation of a self-constituted society, from its 
infancy to mature age ; marked, of course, by the revolutions 
and the struggles inseparable from this condition. But humanity 
must be far more interested in the third period, for it presents a 
spectacle as grand as it is novel, of which history furnishes no 



ELEMENTS OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH COLONIZATION. 181 

antecedent — that of the American Union, composed of sovereign 
and independent States, acting as a single and great nation, by 
the power of governmental centralization. 

If we now retrace our steps, in relation to the principal facts 
contained in this brief historical summary, exhibiting the origin and 
primary organization of the American colonies, we shall be struck 
with the vast difference in the mode of colonization adopted re- 
spectively by the French and English in their American depend- 
encies. The French, by prolonged and destructive contests, 
conquered from the Indians, the country in which they estab- 
lished themselves. Penetrating into the interior, they were at- 
tracted by the fur trade, lived among the Indians, and adopted 
their manners instead of imparting to them their own. 

The English, or rather the Anglo-Americans, built up their 
colonies by their industry, their activity, and their labor. They 
pushed forward their clearings, and thus drove the Indians before 
them by the force of their civilization. Then, in the progress of 
the political organization of the English colonies, an important 
fact, arising even from their constitution, strikes the attention : 
that is, at the close of the seventeenth century, the colonies were 
as much disposed to claim their independence from the mother 
country, as at the close of the eighteenth. But they were not 
sufficiently prepared for this step. They required all the time that 
elapsed from the former to the latter period to complete their pre- 
parations. 

In America, the principle of independence gradually arrived at 
maturity by a series of struggles with the mother country. Above 
all, it was through these legitimate struggles between England 
and the new systems of government introduced by the emigrants 
of New England, that the colonies received their practical edu- 
cation in democracy. 

It does not accord with the plan I have traced out for myself to 
present the history of these struggles in detail. While judging it 
prudent merely to indicate the period of their occurrence, and to 
exhibit their results, I refer the reader to the excellent works al- 
ready published upon the subject. He will there obtain informa- 
tion, the value of which would be weakened if separated from the 
causes and circumstances under which it has been produced. 

I shall take this opportunity to recommend a work from the pen 
of a distinguished gentleman of Boston, Mr. George Bancroft, the 



182 AMERICAN POWER. 

first volumes of which have just appeared in the United States. 
The favor with which his new History of the United States has 
been received by an American public is a significant guarantee 
of its excellence. 

I will also add that one of the ablest of American writers, the 
celebrated editor, commentator, and annotator of the writings of 
Washington, Mr. Jared Sparks, is now preparing an important 
work upon the second period of the history of the United States, 
that .of the Revolution, during which the spirit of independence 
was sustained by force of arms. This book, interesting to the 
American, will not be less so to the French reader, in conse- 
quence of the noble support which France, at that period, gave 
to the American patriots. 

Another fact, neither less striking nor less important, to be 
taken into consideration in our endeavors to appreciate the 
power of the United States, as a nation, is, that the principle of 
the Union took its birth from the earliest period of the political 
organization of the English colonies as distinct societies. Thus 
we see that, so far back as 1637, the colonies of New England 
formed a local coalition to protect themselves against the attacks 
of the savages. 

These colonies were Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hamp- 
shire, and Maine. Rhode Island was not received into that con- 
federation, the principles of which were, that the four contracting 
parties should be united by a league of amity, oflTensive and de- 
fensive ; that the cost of maintaining this league should be pro- 
portioned to the number of the male inhabitants of each colony ; 
that, on hearing of the invasion of any one of the colonies, the 
three others should render it assistance ; that all matters relating 
to peace and war should be examined by commissioners, who 
should assemble in turn at Boston, Hartford, New Haven, and 
Plymouth. 

In 1690, all the English colonies formed a compact mutually 
to assist one another. They even assembled in congress at New 
York, deliberated upon the measures which circumstances re- 
quired them to take, and projected, independently of the mother 
country, the conquest of JYeio France^ a colony belonging to a 
powerful nation. This certainly was a very serious act of inde- 
pendence and sovereignty, which might from that day have laid 



THE PRINCIPLE OF UNION. 183 

bare the political character and ambition of the Anglo-American 
nation ! 

The principle of union, from that time in practical operation, 
has marched forward in silence, imperceptibly, its progress even 
unperceived by the colonists themselves, who, in their feeling of 
sincere loyalty to the English crown, appeared not to appreciate 
the character of this federative idea. No one could foresee whither 
all these things tended, nor the great results they were to bring 
forth. 

In short, this principle made the American colonies equal to 
the circumstances in which they were placed at the second period 
of their history, that of contest by force of arms. It passed 
through this struggle victoriously, and thus created the American 
Union, w^hich, to the present day, has proved to the world that a 
great and enlightened nation, possessing religious faith and prin- 
ciples, may exist in peace and prosperity under a purely demo- 
cratic government. 

But let us also remark that, with the Americans, the principle 
of union has not been the result of chance, nor the consequence 
of a preconceived plan or of fixed design. It is the child of 
necessity. The union became necessary by the augmentation of 
its strength, as well as of the elements which composed it. And 
Providence has so directed all its distinct classes of people — 
springing, nevertheless, from the same origin, and united by the 
same religion, the same language, the same principles — that they 
have become inextricably blended in one and the same power, 
thus securing the better protection of the whole. 

Since that time, the wisdom of man has foreseen and accom- 
plished everything necessary to extend the principle of union, and 
to embrace in a single network of individual interests the immense 
territory of the American Republic. Individual interest is the 
most powerful element in this union ; in fact, the one reciprocally 
imparts life to the other. 



184 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
1678—1717. 

FRENCH COLONIES — LOUISIANA. 

Discovery of the Mississippi by Fernando de Soto ; by Robert Cavalier de la Salle, 
who settles Texas; his unfortunate end — M. Iberville, founder of Louisiana, 
establishes a post at Biloxi ; isle of Massacre; Baton Rouge ; returns to Louisiana 
— Attempt of the Anglo-Americans to forestall the occupation of the Mississippi 
by the French — M. de Bienville — Louis XIV. refuses to grant the Protestants per- 
mission to settle in Louisiana — M. de Tonty — Foundation of the post of Balize; 
of Natchez ; of Baton Rouge — Journey of M. de St. Denis to New Mexico — 
Settlements on Dauphin Island — Intrigues of the Anglo-Americans of the Caro- 
linas among the Indians of Louisiana — Arrival of the missionaries ; prostitutes 
destined to people the colony — Construction of Fort Cond^ at Mobile — M. la 
Mothe-Cadillac — M. Crozat becomes proprietor of Louisiana, and of its com- 
merce for a period of fifteen years — Description of the settlements on Dauphin 
Island in 1716; visit to the same place one hundred years later — M. Crozat re- 
nounces his privileges. 

The honor of the discovery of the Mississippi belongs to Fer- 
nando de Soto, as we have already stated in the second chapter. 
This ambitious companion of Christopher Columbus spent four 
years in Louisiana in search of treasures ; traversed the course of 
the Mississippi for several degrees ; even surveyed it to a cer- 
tain extent, and finally died upon its shores on the 21st of May, 
1542, after having examined the Red River, and the Brazos 
de Dios, in Texas. With the discovery of these countries was 
connected that of Florida, anteriorly made by the Spaniards ; 
whence it follows, from the principle then admitted among nations 
in reference to their respective titles to unknown lands in the New 
World, that Louisiana should have belonged to Spain, as part of 
J\'ew Mexico, then in possession of the Spaniards, the name of 
which included the whole territory of Louisiana to the shores of 
the Pacific. 

But other destinies awaited this beautiful and rich province, 
watered by the father of rivers. The adventurous genius of the 



ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE. 185 

French sowed the first germs of that fecundity and immense pros- 
perity which distinguish, at this time, the richest State of the 
American Union. 

A Norman, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, distinguished by great 
enthusiasm and rare courage, became the Columbus of the 
western portions of North America. By virtue of the reports 
of Marquette and Joliet, his two predecessors, he conceived the 
project of exploring the mouth of the Mississippi, and of thus 
opening towards the south an outlet from New France, which had 
been, so to speak, in the possession of the English, since their 
occupation of Newfoundland, Acadia, and the vicinity of the St. 
Lawrence. He wished to enrich his country with a new conquest. 
He saw honor and profit in its execution, and was guided in his 
determination by an instinct for great deeds, the privilege of 
superior minds, and an intuitive knowledge of the secrets of the 
future, which never abandoned him. 

To render the accomplishment of this plan useful and perma- 
nent, it became necessary to secure the countries which separated 
the Mississippi from the French settlements in Canada. This 
d£sign was impracticable, unless posts could be established at 
certain distances along that immense line, so as to permit safe, 
if not easy, communication. Above all, it was necessary to gain 
the affections of the Indian nations inhabiting these countries. 

It was with these views and inclinations that La Salle, in 1678,* 
made the preparations for his expedition, in which he was accom- 
panied by the Sieur de Tonty, a distinguished, active, and enter- 
prising officer. Four years elapsed before he was enabled to 
navigate the great river which he aspired to reconnoitre. On the 
9th of April, 1682, he planted at its mouth the arms of France. 

In the spring of 1683, he had returned to Quebec, whence he 
immediately sailed for France to propose the discovery of the 
Mississippi by sea, and the settlement of a large colony upon the 
fertile lands which it watered. He obtained the desired permis- 
sion, and, at the same time, four small vessels, commanded by 
M. de Beaujeu. 

He missed the mouth of the Mississippi by an error in his cal- 
culations, and was thrown into the Bay of San Bernardo, distant 
from it three hundred miles. 

* Manuscript Memoirs of M. de Tonty, Archives of the Navy. 



J86 AMERICAN POWER. 

The hatred existing between M. de Beaajeu and La Salle 
rendered this error more melancholy than it ought to have been. 
Impatient to separate from each other, these two proud men de- 
termined to attempt a landing upon the point where chance had 
thrown them. 

La Salle remained upon this coast with one hundred and sixty 
men ; and the Sieur de Beaujeu sailed for France, thus abandon- 
ing his unfortunate companion to a wretched fate. 

La Salle did not despond. Assuming personally the entire 
management of affairs, he founded an establishment on what he 
thought a favorable point in the bay, and afterwards resumed the 
pursuit of his favorite project, the discovery of the mouth of the 
Mississippi. 

It was on this voyage of discovery, that the brave and unfor- 
tunate Frenchman perished, the victim of a cowardly assassination 
by two of his own men, on the 19th of March, 1687. 

From all the information collected relative to the settlement 
founded by M. de la Salle to the westward of the Mississippi, 
and in the present State of Texas, it is evident that this rich 
territory rightfully belonged to France; and, but for his violeiit 
death, and especially for the circumstance that his murder was 
concealed for two years, and which, consequently, prevented the 
interference of France during this time, the Spaniards who then 
occupied Mexico w^ould not have taken possession of the settle- 
ment, nor would they have destroyed, at its outset, the germ of the 
new colony. The Spaniards who destroyed the establishment of 
La Salle had traveled overland from Coahuila, upon the River 
Caldeo, in the kingdom of Leon. It is plain, from these facts, 
that the government of the United States, by its treaties with 
France, having inherited the right to the French possessions in 
America, entitled the provinces and governments of Louisiana, as 
well as the claims to discoveries made by the French in the name 
of France upon this continent, might show a valid title to the 
territory of the new State of Texas. 

In 1697, M. d'Iberville, a Canadian gentleman, son of Charles 
Lemoine, an emigrant from Normandy, who had distinguished 
himself in 1695 and 1697, at the capture of Fort Bourbon, in 
Hudson's Bay ; at that of Pemmaquit on the coast of Acadia, in 
1696 ; and in various attacks on the English colonies at the Island 



M. DE BIENVILLE SEARCHES FOR THE MISSISSIPPI. 187 

of Newfoundland, called the attention of the minister to the pro- 
jects of La Salle, and to the establishment of a colony on the 
Mississippi. In 1698, this distinguished officer was put in com- 
mand of a small squadron of two frigates and two small vessels, 
with a complement of seamen and two hundred emigrants. He 
sailed from Rochefort towards the end of that year. 

He arrived in sight of Florida on the 27th of January, 1699, in 
the latitude of the Island of Santa Rosa, fifteen miles to the east 
of Pensacola ; coasted along the shore ; found Pensacola occupied 
by the Spaniards, sounded the bar, and ascertained the depth of 
the water to be twenty feet. This depth remains unchanged at 
the present day. He continued his course to the westward, keep- 
ing his vessels offshore. Two light vessels or smacks were used 
to range along the coast near the land, and two feluccas to explore 
the shores. With two small bark canoes, some of his party fre- 
quently ascended the bays and rivers. 

The men who were in the canoes, having seen a vast quantity 
of game, landed upon an island which they named Escalet, since 
called Ik a Come, now known as Horn Island. It is contiguous 
to the Island of Massacre, which they also explored, and to which 
they gave this name, because of the great number of bones they 
found on it. Having advanced a little further to the westward, 
they landed upon Ship Island, so called from its good anchorage. 
At this island, the little flotilla anchored. 

This harbor being a very safe one, M. d'Iberville dispatched 
some of his men in search of the mouth of the Mississippi ; while 
he visited the land which lies at a very short distance to the 
north. 

A few days after this, he embarked on board of a small shallop 
with his brother, M. de Bienville, a Franciscan, and forty-eight 
sailors, in search of the Mississippi, whose mouth he discovered 
by the great quantity of floating trees issuing from it. On the 
2d of March, 1699, he entered the river, which had never before 
been entered by sea. He ascended it as high as the small Indian 
village Bayagoulas, on the right shore, a little above the River 
Manchac, now bearing the name of Iberville. 

He tried to ascertain from the Indians whom he found on the 
borders of the river whether he was on the Mississippi ; but they 
could not understand him. In the language of these aborigines, 



188 AMERICAN POWER. 

this river bore the name of Malbancha. He nevertheless con- 
structed a fort on the river, which he named Pontchartrain. 

At Bayagoulas, he had the good fortune to find a letter, in the 
hands of an Indian chief, from M. Tonty to La Salle, written in 
1684, which had been carefully kept by the aborigines. He 
had then no longer any doubt as to the identity of the river upon 
which he was sailing with that discovered by M. de la Salle. 

He also visited the Indian village of Oumas, situated upon the 
slope where Baton Rouge now stands, ascended the river as far 
as Natchez, and returned to Ship Island, passing through Manchac 
Bay and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, before known by 
navigators as the Bale du St. Esprit. 

After having encamped upon Ship Island, M. d'Iberville de- 
termined to explore the coast on the main land. He entered 
Pascagoula River, and chose an advantageous position for a fort, 
to which he gave the name of Maurepas. On the banks of this 
stream, near the site selected, were several Indian villages, known 
as Pascagoula, Moetoby, and Bylochy ; and at the sources of the 
river several other Indian villages, Quinipisa and Chicachas. 

In the early part of 1699, M. d'Iberville returned to France to 
convey the intelligence of his discoveries, and to carry back re- 
inforcements for the establishment of a colony. He left his brother 
De Bienville in command of the colony during his absence, and 
his brother-in-law Sauvolle in command of the post of Biloxi. 
These two intelligent officers made a detailed reconnoissance of 
the outlets of the Mississippi, especially towards the sea, which 
they sounded with great care, and made a report on the varied 
resources which the country afforded for the settlement of a 
colony. 

In the course of this year, two missionaries from Canada, ac- 
companied by sixteen Canadians, descended the river to its mouth, 
and then sailed along the coast until they reached Biloxi, and 
thus opened the first communication between New France and 
Louisiana, which was afterwards kept up by means of the Mobile 
River, or by the lakes and the Bay of Manchac. 

M. dTberville, preparing to return to Louisiana, was placed in 
command of the frigate la Renommee and the storeship la Gironde. 
He was requested to rear a number of wild young beeves near 
Fort Biloxi, and, if possible, to bring some of them to France. 
He was also desired, in his instructions, to seek to procure pearls, 



APPREHENSIONS OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 189 

some samples of which he had brought with him on his return 
from his first voyage ; to ascertain whence they were obtained ; 
and to give his personal assistance to that fishery. He was further 
desired to ascertain whether the wild mulberry tree was adapted 
to the nourishment of silk worms; also to examine the quality of 
the timber suitable for ship building. 

But the principal duty with which he was charged by the 
minister was to search for mines. Those possessed by the Span- 
iards on the same coast, in the same latitude, and in land of the 
same quality, led him to believe that mines equally rich might be 
discovered in the vicinity of the Mississippi. M. d'Iberville was 
to take possession of these mines in the name of the king, and to 
make correct charts of them. He was authorized to have them 
worked, if possible, by the natives. 

In this second voyage, M. d'Iberville was accompanied by his 
brother-in-law, M. le Sueur, proprietor of the lead mines in the 
country of the Sioux, at the upper part of the Mississippi, who 
was to proceed thither by ascending the river; by M. de Remon- 
ville, an amateur traveler; by M. de Raucour, who was sent out 
to the colony as the king^s scrivener or naval storekeeper, embrac- 
ing the functions of commissary-general of the king — a position 
in the colony second only to that of governor; and by M. de la 
Ronde as port warden. 

When M. d'Iberville left the colony, its inhabitants numbered 
two hundred. On his return, he found only one hundred and 
fifty. The remainder had fallen victims to diseases of the climate. 
But the arrival of reinforcements gave new vigor to the adventurers 
who had come to seek their fortunes ; thus stimulated, they com- 
menced their exploration. 

In the meanwhile, the news that the French were seeking to 
found a new colony on the Mississippi had reached the ears of 
the Anglo-Americans, whose jealousy was again excited by ap- 
prehensions of their success. They immediately determined to 
pursue the same object, in order, if possible, to forestall the 
French in their attempts to make a settlement. A resident of 
New Jersey, named Cox, incurred the expense of dispatching a 
vessel under the command of Captain Barr. On his arrival in 
the Mississippi to take possession, he met M. de Bienville engaged 
in surveying it, who informed him that the French actually occu- 



190 AMERICAN POWER. 

pied the country, and that it would be useless for him to attempt 
to make any settlements there. The interview between these two 
officers took place on that part of the river which still bears the 
name oi English Turn, the point which had been reached by the 
English, and whence they retraced their steps. 

M. de Bienville, in the absence of his brother, received a peti- 
tion from the French Protestants, victims of the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes, praying to be admitted to the enjoyment of 
liberty of conscience, and to be permitted to colonize the shores 
of the Mississippi. This petition was transmitted to M. de Pont- 
chartrain, who returned this answer: The king has not driven the 
Protestants from France, that they may establish a republic in 
America. Hence, the stupid superstition of Louis the Fourteenth 
deprived this colony of a most useful class of inhabitants, who, 
by their wealth, industry, and perseverance, would have been of 
all others the best adapted for colonization. 

M. de Tonty descended from Illinois with a few Canadians. 
Leaving them with M. d'Iberville for the foundation of a settle- 
ment on this river, he returned to Fort Chartres and Kaskaskia. 

In 1700, M. d'Iberville founded the post of Balize at the mouth 
of the Mississippi; and Fort Rosalie — thus named in commemo- 
ration of the Countess of Pontchartrain — at the point of the river 
where the city of Natchez now stands. 

On the present site of the city of Baton Rouge, near the mouth 
of the Bay of Manchac, formerly stood the Indian village of Oumas, 
which took the name of Iberville. 

In consequence of the positive instructions of M. d'Iberville to 
make strict search for the mines that the country might contain, 
M. Juchereau de St. Denis was engaged six months in exploring 
the whole country west of Louisiana as far as New Mexico. He 
performed this journey at that period in a shorter time than it can 
now be accomplished. M. de Bienville also made a reconnois- 
sance to the west for the same object. He visited Red River, 
which received the name of the Marne, and afterwards la Sablon- 
niere. 

If, at that period, the French had continued to occupy the Bay 
of St. Bernard, discovered and settled by La Salle, they would 
have become masters of the whole interior of the country by the 
communication opened across the Red River by the Sieur St. 
Denis. 



CONDITION OF THE COLONY OF LOUISIANA. 191 

In 1702, M. d'Iberville, convinced that the Mississippi, in 
consequence of the shallowness of the water over the bar, was 
not a favorable position for a maritime port, determined to transfer 
the principal establishment of the colony to a point on the Mobile 
River, one hundred and eighty miles eastward from the Missis- 
sippi, and thirty-six miles to the west of Pensacola. 

There was not, it is true, much depth of water in the river and 
bay of Mobile; but Dauphin Island offered an excellent harbor, 
easy to defend. Here the water, at low tide, was from twenty to 
twenty-one feet, affording a good anchorage for vessels of from 
forty to fifty guns. The communication from Mobile to the north- 
western settlements was almost as easy of access as that by the 
Mississippi ; and the road had already been opened and followed 
by Canadian runners. 

Mobile is a Spanish corruption of the word Movilla, from a 
tribe of Indians living on these waters. 

The French had already been in Louisiana three or four years, 
and had passed all that time in reconnoitering, instead of devising 
plans for the formation of permanent settlements. There w^ere 
but one hundred and thirty-nine individuals in the colony, of 
which nine were officers, twenty-four sailors, fourteen laborers, 
sixty-four Canadians, twenty soldiers, and eight cabin boys, at an 
annual expense of forty-two thousand one hundred and twenty- 
six livres (about eight thousand five hundred dollars) — a sum 
received with great irregularity. It was, therefore, more of a 
military than an agricultural establishment, which had thus been 
founded. In the colony, there was not a single family, not a sin- 
gle woman. M. d'Iberville, to meet this exigency, sent to France 
for twenty or thirty women for the requirements of the colony. 
These were to be given in marriage to the Canadians. He recom- 
mended particularly that they should be well-formed; that it 
would be best to procure them at Rochefort, or from the General 
Hospital in Paris! He also proposed to send for some Sioux and 
Illinois Indians, who numbered about four thousand armed war- 
riors. He recommended M. le Sueur, his brother-in-law, as the 
most capable agent to conduct these Indians to the colony. 

He suggested to the government the propriety of forming two 
grand territorial and administrative divisions in the French pos- 
sessions in America; one under the name of the Mississippi or 
the Louisiana Colony, comprising all the country tributary to the 



192 AMERICAN POWER. 

Mississippi River; the second under that of the Canada Colony^ 
comprising all the country tributary to the River St. Lawrence, 
including the lakes. This plan was ultimately adopted. 

In 1703, the Anglo-American colonies of South Carolina had 
already commenced to intrigue among the Indian nations in the 
vicinity of the posts of Louisiana for the purpose of creating dif- 
ficulties in these establishments. M. de Bienville proposed a 
plan to attack Charleston by land, which, however, he did not 
even commence to execute. 

In 1704, the French government having assented to the requi- 
sition of M. d'Iberville, sent out three missionaries, twenty girls 
intended for colonization, one midwife, and one hundred soldiers. 

The documents of those days inform us that these twenty future 
mothers of Louisiana were under the direct superintendence of 
Marie Jeanne Morbe, conductress. Their names were, Franpoise- 
Marianne de Boisrenaud, Jeanne-Catherine de Berenchard, Eli- 
zabeth le Periteau, Marie-Noel du Mesnil, Gabrielle Sanart, 

Marguerite , Marie -Therese Brochon, Angelique Briard, 

Marguerite Tavernier, Elizabeth Deshays, Marie Philippe, Louise- 
Marguerite Housseau, Marie-Madeleine Diiane, Marie Dufresne, 
Marguerite Guichard, Reine Gilbert, Louise-Franpoise Lafausse, 
Gabrielle Binet. 

The family of the Sieur Etienne Bure, composed of three per- 
sons, was among the passengers. The name of the midwife was 
Catherine de Monthon; and she was married. 

The materiel and personnel of Fort St. Louis, at Mobile, the 
principal post in Louisiana, presented the following condition: 
One hundred and eighty men in garrison, twenty-seven families, 
seven children from one to ten years of age, six Indians from 
twelve to eighteen, five Indian girls from fifteen to twenty; eighty 
one-story houses, nine oxen, fourteen cows, four bulls, five calves, 
one hundred hogs, three goats, and four hundred fowls. 

In 1706, M. d'Iberville, who had truly been the father of the 
Louisiana colony, died at Havana during his third voyage from 
France to America. His death brought on the ruin of the esta- 
blishments in Louisiana, which were completely neglected by the 
government of France. 

M. de Bienville commanded Fort Mobile at that time, but was 
relieved by M. de May. He proposed to the government the 
propriety of allowing a few Indian chiefs, among whom he had 



FORT MOBILE. 193 

settled, to visit France; but his request was refused on account 
of the expense attendant on the measure. 

Some of the colonists, desirous of commencing agricultural pur- 
suits, petitioned the government for permission to exchange Indian 
for African slaves from the islands, resting their claim upon similar 
exchanges already effected by the Anglo-Americans. This pro- 
position was also refused. 

In fine, M. de la Salle, king's commissioner, was succeeded 
by M. Dartaguette, who brought with him more colonists. 

In 1709, Fort Mobile was entirely rebuilt. It was a bastioned 
square, containing within its walls: 1. The governor's house. 
2. The king's stores. 3. The powder magazine. 4. The bar- 
racks. 5. The prison. Beyond the walls, there were a church, 
an hospital, a seminary, and a cemetery; quarters for soldiers, 
and for the priests; the quarters of M. de Bienville, of MM. de 
Chateaugue, de Grandeville, de Boisbrillant, de Mandeville, de 
Blondel, de Valagny, de Paillou, de St. Denis, de Chelen; of the 
chief surgeon; of M. Duclos, commissary, charged with the sale 
of lands, and the administration of police ; of M. Poirier, store- 
keeper; of M. Jean-Louis Mache, gunner; the lodging houses of 
several women; lastly, the residences of the people in the pay of 
the king, and dwellings for travelers. 

All these buildings were beyond the fort; but, as they were 
exposed to the overflow of the Mobile River, the inhabitants were 
compelled to seek an asylum either on the Island of Massacre, 
or on Dauphin Island, which was entirely sterile. A guard of 
twenty-five men was stationed on the former island to watch the 
movements of the colonists, and to prevent those who had accu- 
mulated a little money from abandoning the settlement. 

The fort on the Mississippi was commanded by the Sieur St. 
Denis. 

The Indians, incited by the English, made an attack upon the 
small town near Fort Mobile, and carried off twenty-six prisoners, 
whom they held in slavery. One of these Indians had been taken 
prisoner, and was burnt by the Mobilians to "dry the tears of 
those who had lost their relatives in the battle." 

In 1710, M. de la Mothe-Cadillac, former governor and pro- 
prietor of Detroit, arrived in Louisiana, of which he had been 
appointed governor. He selected Fort Biloxi as his residence. 

During this year, some of the colonists who had settled between 
13 



194 AMERICAN POWER. 

the heads of the Bayou St. Jean and the Mississippi, the present 
site of New Orleans, had planted corn with great success. 

The war sustained by France, in 1711, had so completely 
exhausted her treasury that she was unable to send timely assist- 
ance to the settlements established in Louisiana. The government 
found it expedient to adopt some means of preserving this colony 
without incurring expense. In its penury, it was induced to ac- 
cept the propositions of M. Crozat, a celebrated merchant, who 
agreed to continue the colonization of these countries on condition 
that for fifteen years he should possess the monopoly of their trade. 
This privilege was granted to him by letters patent on the 14th 
of September, 1712, delivered at Fontainebleau, 

Spain, however, attempted to oppose the establishments of M. 
Crozat, and even seized some of the vessels he had sent to Louis- 
iana. Permission was then granted to introduce African slaves 
into the colony to cultivate the soil. During this year, a number 
of young women, from sixteen to twenty years of age, taken from 
the French hospitals, were sent to Louisiana to bear the germs of 
a good population into that colony. But it appears that the selec- 
tion of these girls was so bad, according to the report of the com- 
missary Duclos in 1713, that, out of twelve, only two could get 
married. The rest were so ugly and ill shapen that neither the 
colonists nor Canadians showed any inclination to unite themselves 
to them. " It is to be feared," he added, " that the others will long 
remain unmarried." The year 1713 was one of great distress to 
the colony. The provisions promised by M. Crozat did not arrive. 
The colonists were obliged to obtain supplies from Havana ; and 
when those expected from France at last reached them, they were 
found to be damaged. 

In 1714, there were but two hundred and fifty inhabitants in 
the whole country, thirty-five of whom belonged to the garrison 
under the command of M. de Bienville, at Biloxi. Moreover, 
from the report of M. la Mothe-Cadillac, this population was but 
*' a miserable collection of the scum of Canada, fit only for the 
hangman, insubordinate, without religion, addicted to all sorts 
of vice, and to the Indian squaws, whom they preferred to the 
French." 

M. de Bienville undertook another journey on the Red River 
to explore the mines of the country. 

The clearings on the Mississippi amounted absolutely to nothing, 



SETTLEMENTS ON DAUPHIN ISLAND. 195 

while those on the Mobile, more populous than the other colony, 
advanced but slowly, because of the state of uncertainty which 
existed relative to the intentions of the government to maintain 
itself in that country. Such was the opinion expressed byDuclos 
to M. de Pontchartrain. Thus, it is not from to-day alone that 
French ministries have marked their acts of colonization by a 
fickleness fatal to the interests of France! 

The missionaries erected a church upon Dauphin Island, which 
had become the most important post of the colony. The culti- 
vation of indigo was attempted, and with such success that three 
crops were annually gathered. 

Dauphin Island, which, at an early period of the colonization of 
Louisiana, was the principal post, and, as it were, the capital of the 
colony, is now what it was then, a sterile sand bank, upon which 
grow a few pines, creeping vines, and stunted palm trees around 
the ponds. It is about seven miles in length (twelve thousand 
metres), and about one mile in width (fifteen hundred metres), 
containing a superficies of about nine hundred acres (eighteen 
hundred hectares). The harbor was at the east end, formed by a 
small sand islet, known as Spanish Islet. It was situated between 
this islet and Massacre Island. The depth of the water was from 
four to five fathoms, and afforded excellent anchorage. It could 
be entered from the westward, by keeping near the island. On 
approaching it, it was necessary to pass a bar, where, at the time 
of M. d'Iberville's visit, the \vater was from twenty to twenty-one 
feet in depth. But in 1706, it had fallen to fifteen or sixteen feet. 
This anchorage could also be reached by steering for Mobile Bay, 
and crossing the bar, where the depth of the water was but twelve 
feet; a depth which has not since varied. 

In front of this port, vessels of a heavier draught could anchor 
in an open roadstead. 

The port of Dauphin was defended by a fort, under whose pro- 
tection the government houses and those of the colonists had been 
erected. These frame buildings were ranged along the shore, built 
on the sand, and surrounded by small palisade pickets. Nothing 
could give a more unfavorable impression of this colony and its 
future prospects than the appearance of these wretched cabins, 
which were no better than the temporary huts put up by fisher- 
men. Nevertheless, this island at one time contained over two 
hundred houses inclosed in an entrenched camp, surrounded by 



196 AMERICAN POWER. 

palisades where the garrison was quartered. The town was burnt 
down in the same year as old Biloxi. 

When I visited this island in 1817, it was a perfect desert. It 
had become what nature intended it to be, the rendezvous of sea 
birds, and the resort of crocodiles, so abundant on that coast. A 
single individual had built his hut among the ruins of the old fort. 
He was an old pilot, brave and intelligent, whose heart was the 
seat of those noble sentiments of French honor, which one is 
always happy to speak of wherever they are exhibited. 

In the year 1814, during the last war with England, Damour, 
the Mobile pilot, had been sought after by the commanding officer 
of the English squadron then on the coast. His reputation was 
well known from New Orleans to Pensacola. He alone was able 
to pilot the ships of this squadron through the wretched islands 
and difficult channels that abound along the coast of Louisiana. 
The party in pursuit of him searched the whole of Dauphin Island. 
They found his hut, turned his humble furniture upside down, 
and, after having despaired of securing their object, set fire to his 
property. In the mean time, Damour, his hatred of the English 
unmitigated, remained concealed in the foul water of one of 
the ponds on the island, in the midst of rushes and crocodiles, 
his head alone above its surface. In this position, he witnessed 
the destruction of his dwelling, debarred the means of vengeance. 
But the brave Frenchman was afterwards revenged, for, at the 
attack of Fort Boyer, on the very point of Mobile Bay, the Eng- 
lish met with a shameful defeat before the feeble bastions of a sand 
redoubt, defended by a handful of brave Americans under their 
intrepid commander, Major Boyer. 

The post of New Biloxi was situated upon the point of land to 
the right of the Bay of Biloxi, immediately fronting Ship Island. 
Old Biloxi was abandoned for this new position, which was thought 
to be more healthy. The Bay of Biloxi was inclosed by Deer 
Island. 

The site of New Biloxi was very well selected as a position 
on the sea coast; but it had no communication with the interior 
of the country, or with the large rivers. It was not, therefore, a 
suitable place for the establishment of a colony. Still, the in- 
closure of the new^ establishment had been projected upon a 
regular plan. It was bastioned, and formed upon a scale as 



M. CROZAT RENOUNCES HIS PRIVILEGES. 197 

imposing as though it had been built for the defence of a second 
class fort. 

In 1715, M. de Bienville assumed the command of the colony 
in the absence of M. d'Epinay. He attempted to form alliances 
with the natives, undertook an expedition into the midst of their 
settlements, and erected a fort upon the borders of the Alabama, 
one of the tributaries of the Mobile, so as to keep the Indians in 
check in that direction, for they had already been tampered with 
by the Anglo-Americans of the south. In 1716, he marched 
against the Natchez tribe, and permanently established Fort Ro- 
salie. This fort afterwards served as the foundation of the city 
of Natchez. He finally succeeded in placing all the native tribes 
under the protection of France, with the exception of the Choctaws 
and Chickasaws, who had already been secured in the interest of 
the Americans. The last named tribes occasioned as many dif- 
ficulties in the south as the Iroquois had caused in the north. 

In 1717, M. Crozat, disgusted with his projects and deceived 
in' his hopes, yielded up his privileges to the king. He left the 
colony in a sad condition, having, as it were, done nothing for its 
advancement, or, at least, so little that, at the time he resigned 
his rights, there were, at Louisiana, but four hundred white colo- 
nists, not including the garrison, twenty negroes, and about two 
hundred head of cattle. 



198 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
1717—1731. 

FRENCH COLONIES LOUISIANA. 

Louisiana ceded to the West India Company — Company organized by John Law — 
His financial system — Colonial administration — Site of New Orleans selected by 
M. de Bienville — Military force of the province — A post founded on Red River — 
Distribution of the factories of the West India Company — Mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi — New territorial division adopted by the Company — Distribution of posts 
— Chiefs placed in command of them — Their respective emoluments — Establish- 
ments of the Jesuits — Ursuline nuns — Missions and parishes — Intervention of the 
English in the war against the Indians — Massacre perpetrated by the Natchez — 
Destruction of that tribe — The remnant that escapes takes refuge among the 
Chicactas — West India Company. 

The province of Louisiana, and the country of the Illinois, 
attached to its government, were conceded to the West India 
Company, also called the Mississippi Company, by the king's 
edicts of April and September, 1717. This company was organ- 
ized by John Law, a Scotchman, who, at that time, was in the 
intimate confidence of the Regent. 

This company, established for the colonization of Louisiana and 
Mississippi, was founded upon a nominal capital of one hundred 
million francs, the stock of which was raised upon State bonds 
issued at par, but only worth fifty per cent, in the market ! 

At that period, the most absurd falsehoods were circulated con- 
cerning the riches and resources of Mississippi. Plans and maps 
were freely distributed, upon which gold mines were marked at 
almost every point, in order to seduce the credulity of lenders and 
speculators. Two hundred thousand shares of five hundred livres 
(one hundred dollars) each were issued ; and their nominal value 
immediately advanced beyond all conception. They were titles 
w'hich speculators thought must produce unbounded wealth. The 
course of the river was marked out by imaginary lines, and divided 
according to the whim of the purchaser, and the value he attached 



MISSISSIPPI SCHEME OF JOHN LAW. 199 

to it. A square league of land in Louisiana, in the most unknown 
corners, could scarcely be purchased for less than thirty thousand 
livres (six thousand dollars). In short, the value of this territory 
was greater, in certain cases, than the best cultivated lands in 
France ! 

Immense domains to the west of the Mississippi, and in the 
prairies of Arkansas, were granted to companies, and to rich 
commoners and nobles. More than six thousand inhabitants 
were to be furnished by these grantees. Law had reserved to 
himself a vast prairie in Arkansas; and, for the cultivation of 
these lands, he had engaged more than fitteen hundred colonists, 
had incurred an expense of more than a million and a-half of 
livres (about three hundred thousand dollars), and had purchased 
three hundred negroes, notwithstanding the company of which he 
was a member had the monopoly of the introduction of slaves. 
He had engaged a great number of mechanics of all kinds, and a 
crowd of German emigrants, to populate prairies that were more 
suitable for public pastures than for the habitation of man. When 
ten years had elapsed, but thirty wretched inhabitants could be 
found in this Eldorado. 

The desire to emigrate to the Mississippi was so enthusiastic, 
in the hope of finding gold mines, as to bring forth a crowd of 
emigrants, mechanics, and soldiers. More than eight hundred 
embarked on board the Victoire, the Duchess de JYoailles, and the 
Marne; and as, at that time, the French were still ignorant that 
they could enter the Mississippi with vessels coming from Europe, 
and as Dauphin Island had lost its harbor during that year by a 
sand bank, the vessels anchored opposite Ship Island. It was 
necessary to crowd all these emigrants into Fort Biloxi, whence 
they were to be transported in coasting vessels to the Mississippi. 
But, as the buildings at Biloxi were put up merely for a temporary 
purpose, and were withal in bad condition, the poor emigrants, 
who preferred the open air to close confinement in miserable huts, 
took the fever, and perished by disease and wretchedness. 

The deceptions practiced by the abettors of Law's project 
caused the Mississippi to be looked upon with horror. The name 
was thereafter used as a term of reproach. Hence originated 
the threat, on the occasion of any misdemeanor or fault: "I will 
send you to Mississippi." 

Nevertheless, the Company in Paris governed the colony, and 



200 AMERICAN POWER. 

directed and administered its affairs, without possessing the least 
idea of the country. Thus, it constituted a government composed 
of a governor, an intendant, and a royal council. Each was en- 
dowed with distinct prerogatives. The governor had the direction 
of military affairs, and the treaties of alliance and commerce with 
the natives. 

The intendant, or commissary, had charge of the police, of the 
courts, and the finances. He was also president and chief judge 
of the superior council. All expenditures were submitted to his 
examination for approval; and in him, in conjunction with the 
governor, was vested the responsibility of the sale of land. 

The royal council, created by an edict of the 8th of September, 
1719, was composed of a chief justice, an intendant, a king's 
attorney, six of the principal inhabitants, and a clerk of the pro- 
vince. All civil or criminal cases were referred to this court. 
Each individual could make his own defence either verbally or 
in writing. Commercial disputes were decided by the intendant, 
who was at once marine commissioner and admiralty judge. His 
decisions, as well as those of the superior council, were without 
appeal. 

Hence, the power of the intendant was a sort of check upon 
that of the governor; while the power of each was kept in check 
by the royal council. 

In 1718, M. de Bienville selected the site of the present city 
of New Orleans, thus named in honor of the Regent. The plan 
of this city was drawn up by the Sieur Blond de la Tour, Knight 
of St. Louis, lieutenant-general and brigadier of engineers. It 
was one hundred and five miles distant from the Balize, and 
formed an oblong square, measuring fourteen hundred and forty 
yards (seven hundred and twenty toises) parallel to the river, and 
six hundred yards (three hundred toises) in breadth. 

Four companies of troops were then sent from France, amount- 
ing in all to four hundred men. They were distributed as fol- 
lows : — 

100 men for the garrison at Dauphin Island. 



10 




at Mobile. 


30 




at Biloxi. 


30 




at the post of Alabama. 


150 




at the post of Arkansas. 


40 




at the post of the Wabash 


30 


' a post in the interior. 



FOUNDATION OF A POST ON RED RIVER. 201 

No manorial lands were ever conceded in Louisiana, as had 
been done in Canada. Nevertheless, Horn Island was granted 
to M. de Bienville, in mean tenure, in virtue of his eminent ser- 
vices. 

The governor of the colony directed his whole attention to the 
means of preventing the encroachments of the Americans, whose 
activity and enterprising spirit rendered their vicinity formidable. 
He made requisitions for colonists from Europe, and for money 
and troops to fortify Dauphin Island, the seat of the superior 
council of the colony. 

In the course of this year, a line of posts was established along 
the Mississippi, in order to place Louisiana in communication 
with Canada, which, until that period, had furnished Louisiana 
with her most intelligent colonists. One of them, named Tissenet, 
crossed from Mobile to the lakes, and returned with his family 
from Canada to the shores of this river. 

In May, 1719, the French took Pensacola from the Spaniards 
and destroyed the Fort of the Barancas ; but were compelled, six 
weeks after, to surrender to a Spanish fleet which besieged them, 
and attempted vainly to destroy the settlements on Dauphin Island. 
In September, Pensacola was again taken by the French, and was 
not restored to the Spaniards until the 26th of November, 1722, 
in pursuance of a treaty of peace. 

In the same year, Bernard de la Harpe ascended the Red River, 
and founded Fort St. Louis, four hundred and eighty miles above 
Natchitoches. The Sieur Diron also founded a post in the country 
of the Padoucas. These two officers penetrated the west to within 
a few days march of Santa Fe. 

In 1720, Ship Island was still the first point on the coast where 
vessels landed on coming from France. At this place, a fort had 
been constructed which contained the stores of the Company, and 
the dwelling of an overseer who attended to its affairs. On the 
second line were the posts of Biloxi and of the Illinois. In that 
year, a hospital was erected on Deer Island. 

Biloxi was the principal factory of the Company, and the centre 
of its affairs. A ship yard was about to be built there for the 
repair of vessels, as well as a store-house to receive rigging. 

The transportation of the colonists w^s performed by the boats 
of the Company, which, starting from Biloxi, passed through Lakes 
Pontchartrain and Maurepas, and Bayou Manchac. At the outlet 



202 AMERICAN POWER. 

of the bay, there was a post which communicated directly with 
the upper part of the river, by means of points ranged all along 
its course, at which boats employed in carrying correspondence 
and conveying troops could obtain all necessary supplies. 

The boats on the river stopped at the port of Manchac. Those 
of Biloxi only passed from Manchac to Biloxi. 

The personnel of the administration of Biloxi, at that time, con- 
sisted of a storekeeper; a person who attended to the entry and 
export of merchandize; one who had charge of the rigging and 
tackle ; one who acted as clerk ; and a certain number of laborers. 
Another clerk had charge of the stores on the river, established at 
Manchac, and at English Turn, on the right bank. 

Dauphin Island was the second establishment. Manchac be- 
came the third, and for some time bore the name of New Orleans, 
because of its importance on the river. At this post, there were 
a book-keeper and a chief clerk. Each post had a garden and a 
poultry yard. 

The government of France had recommended the opening of a 
road by land from Biloxi to the country of the Illinois, to obviate 
the delays which the overflow of the river occasioned in the cor- 
respondence between these two extreme points of the colony! A 
bearer of dispatches left each of these posts once a month. Colo- 
nists were sent to Natchez to cultivate tobacco, and their labors 
were highly successful. 

The post of New Orleans became the fourth factory of the 
Company. The city, in which a few brick houses had already 
been built, was covered on the side towards the river by a levee, 
and in the rear by a large ditch, which served the purpose of a 
drain. 

There was a military post at the mouth of Bayou St. John, in 
Lake Pontchartrain, nine miles from New Orleans, which was 
occupied by a sergeant and six men ; a second post at Cat Island 
by an officer and fifteen men ; a third, one hundred and eighty 
miles above New Orleans, at Point Coupee ; and a fourth at 
Natchez. 

The mouths of the Mississippi had then been thoroughly sur- 
veyed, sounded, and buoyed. They were six in number, as fol- 
lows: 1. The north-east channel, or the Loutre. 2. The east, 
3. The south-east. 4, The south. 5. The south-west. And 
6. The Sauvol. 



MOUTHS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 203 

The south-east was the only practicable channel for vessels draw- 
ing fourteen feet of water; and to preserve as well as to improve 
it, a mole built of piles had been thrown up, which preserved 
the channel from the extreme point of the main land to the sea. 
A water battery, a military post, stores, a powder magazine, and 
a chapel, were built upon the bank that had been formed by 
these piles. A garrison of fifty men was usually kept there, as 
well as pilots and a few sailors. This post was known as the 
Balize Fort. At first constructed on the edge of the shore, about 
seven hundred yards from the sea, the deposits of earth by the 
current of the river have been so great that, at the present time, 
its distance from the sea is nearly nineteen miles. 

The engineer de Pauge, to increase the depth of that chan- 
nel, proposed to inclose the waters between two moles built 
of drift wood, covering an extent of two thousand four hundred 
yards. This plan, which certainly would have improved the 
channel, was never executed. It is to be regretted that, up to 
the present time, no efforts have been made to increase the depth 
of water at the mouth of this majestic river, for this result would 
not only be of great advantage to commerce, but it would diminish 
the rise in the river, and prevent the damage annually done to 
those who live on its shores. 

In 1721, the West India Company adopted a new territorial 
division for the administration of this colony. Nine divisions 
were created, namely: 1. New Orleans. 2. Biloxi. 3. Mobile. 
4. Alabama. 5. Natchez. 6. Yazoos. 7. Natchitoches. 8. 
Kansas, or Arkansas. 9. Illinois. 

Each of these divisions or quarters was under the immediate 
control of a chief who assumed the title of commanding-general. 

M. de Bienville, commandant-general of the colony, was also 
in immediate command of the divisions of New Orleans, Natchez, 
Yazoos, and Natchitoches or Red River. His salary amounted to 
twelve thousand livres (two thousand five hundred dollars). 

M. le Blond de la Tour, brigadier of the engineer corps, chief 
engineer of the colony, resided at New Biloxi, of which he had 
the command. 

'The first lieutenant of the king had command of Arkansas and 
Illinois. 

The second lieutenant of the king commanded at Mobile and 
Alabama. In Louisiana proper, there were three stations: New 



roooivod 1*2.000 livros, 


!?2500 


5.000 " 


1000 


l-J.OOO " 


•2500 


5.900 " 


11-40 


1.500 " 


300 


1,800 " 


300 


1,000 " 


250 


700 " 


140 


TOO " 


140 



:204 AMKUicAX rowKR. 

Orleans, New Biloxi, and Mobile. The salaries of (he persons 
employed by the Company were as follows : — 

The governoi'-genoral 
" lioutonant-govonvor 
" princiinil dirootor of tho Oompnny 
" ohiof oloi'k of tho faotorios 
" storo-koepor 

" captain commaudiug at Xow Orleans 
" " at Jlissouri 

at Illinois 
" at Uiloxi 

The administrative seat of the colony remained at lliloxi until 
the year 1723, when M. de Bienville transferred his head quarters 
to New Orleans. Biloxi then contained: I. The director's office. 
2. A store-house. 3. The director's dwelling^. 4. A hospital. 
5. The abode of the girls from the Salpotriere Hospital. (). The 
dwelling of the soldiers, and of the convicts who lived within the 
same inclosure. 

The transfer oi' the seat oi' the colony to New Orleans gave an 
impetus to this town, and several new houses were built. The 
colony contained, at that time, a population of five hundred whites 
and four hundred blacks, mostly employed in the indigo factories. 

Three hundred Germans W'ere settled on the right shore, the 
wretched remains of several thousand who had been decoyed from 
their country to take part in the colonization system of Law. 
They had arrived in Louisiana under the orders of a Swedish 
Captain d'Aremberg, a veteran of Charles the Twelfth. 

That part of the river was called the Germans' Coast, a name 
which it has ever since retained. It is very fertile, and exceed- 
ingly well cultivated. 

Renewed attempts were made to occupy St. Bernard's Bay, in 
Texas; but the new post was attacked, and entirely destroyed, 
by the Camanche Lidians. 

Above the Germans' Coast, a colony of eight hundred Acadians 
was formed, who had arrived in Louisiana after the peace of 
Utrecht. 

Vessels from Europe, bound to the colony, did not yet enter 
the river, although the channels had been surveyed for some 
time. They still continued to anchor at Ship Lsland; and Biloxi 
long afterwards remained the port of entry of the province. 



ESTABLISHMENT.S OF TlfE JESUITS. 20-v 

In 1723, several Capuchin missionaries arrived at New Orleans. 

In 1724, the New Orleans colony was composed of eleven 
military posts, namely: New Orleans, Balize, Biloxi, Dauphin 
Island, Alabama, Natchez, Natchitoches, Yazoos, Attakapas, and 
Illinois. 

In 172G, the Jesuits, who had established themselves at New 
Orleans, were accused and convicted of prevarication. The fact 
is, they concerned themselves more about temporal than spiritual 
affairs. They gave more attention to their personal interests than 
to the conversion of the natives, or to the education of the colo- 
nists. They aspired to the acquisition of great wealth by their 
trade with the Indians. 

In 1727, an Ursuline convent was founded in New Orleans. 
The nuns established a school for the education of female orphans, 
and devoted themselves to nursing the sick in the military hos- 
pital. This institution, here as elsewhere, rendered great service 
to the cause of humanity. 

The Jesuits, who, until this period, had been freely allowed to 
settle in the colony, were banished by a royal edict- They had 
already gained so great an influence in the country that the 
number of their missions amounted to eleven : — 

1. At New Orleans, where they had a church, at which four 
of their order officiated: Fathers Raphael, Theodore, Hyacinth, 
and Cyrille. 

2. At Natchez, confided to the care of Father Philibert. There 
was no church at this mission. 

3. At the Balize, under the care of Father Gaspard, where a 
church had but recently been built. Previously, mass had been 
celebrated in the kitchen of the mission house. 

4. At Mobile, where there was a small church, but no school 
or paid choristers. Under the care of Father Mathieu. 

b. One at the Appalaches, under the care of Father Oritorien. 

6. At Natchitoches. 

7. At the Germans' Coast. 

8. At the post of the Tonikas. 

9. At Pointe Coupee, sixty miles above the Tonikas. 

10. At the Chapitoulos, or Burnt Canes. 

11. At English Turn, 

England, whose constant aim it has always been to attain her 
objects, if not directly, at least indirectly, never renounced her 



206 AMERICAN POWER. 

iniquitous policy of employing Indian emissaries to keep the 
French settlements in a state of constant uneasiness. From the 
origin of the Louisiana colony, the English Governor of South 
Carolina had sought an alliance with a warlike and formidable 
Indian nation, whose territory extended from the waters of the 
Mississippi to those of the Mobile, and thence to the Gulf. By 
means of presents of money and merchandize, he had gained over 
the Chicactas nation, and had enlisted them in his projects against 
the French colony of the Mississippi. He had induced these 
Chicactas to incite the Natchez, a mild and peaceable tribe, who 
had been friendly to the French, to rise against their ancient allies, 
on the futile ground that the French wished to deprive them of 
their territories and drive them from their country. This subterfuge 
succeeded. The chiefs of the Natchez believed it, inasmuch as 
they saw French farms gradually occupying all the lands which 
they had for centuries considered as their own. 

Fort Rosalie, occupied by the French, was situated beyond the 
Yazoos, and immediately above White River. It was separated 
from the village of the Natchez merely by a small rivulet. In 
the vicinity and under the protection of the fort were a few dwell- 
ino-s, where tobacco and cotton were cultivated. 

The Natchez had recourse to an insidious stratagem to destroy 
the French without danger to themselves. They pretended that 
they were about engaging in a great chase; and, by appearing 
four at a time at the door of each habitation, under the pretext of 
borrowing, they obtained all the arms of the French. At eight 
o'clock in the morning, the chief of the Natchez, accompanied by 
a few of his warriors, repaired to the residence of Captain Chopart, 
commandant of the post, and offered some poultry for sale. He 
contrived to let several loose in the house. The officer, in the 
attempt to drive them out, stooped down, when the chief gave 
the signal of attack; and the commandant fell under the fire of 
the barbarians. This murder was the signal for a general mas- 
sacre of the inhabitants, which did not cease until four o'clock in 
the afternoon. 

The Indians carried the heads of their victims to their camp, 
where they divided their spoils. A few children and women had 
escaped the massacre; the former were received into the tribe, 
while the latter were held as slaves. More than two hundred 



WEST INDIA COMPANY. 207 

persons perished in this terrible butchery, which took place on 
the 28th of November, 1729. 

The news of this irruption, and of its disastrous results, pro- 
duced great consternation among the inhabitants of New Orleans. 
Reinforcements were immediately marched to Fort Rosalie, with 
which, on the 28th of January, 1730, the Sieur de Chartres sud- 
denly fell upon the camp of the Natchez, and cruelly revenged his 
murdered countrymen. By this bold stroke, the tribe was almost 
entirely destroyed, and those who escaped took shelter among the 
Chicactas, who had so inconsiderately urged them to this revolt. 

The West India Company, after the lapse of fourteen years, 
finding that its expenditures, growing out of the aggressions 
made on the colony, exceeded its income, in July, 1731, gave 
up its charter. This surrender of the administration of the 
province of Louisiana, including the country of the Illinois, took 
effect on the 1st of July; and by a royal ordinance of the same 
date, the country was declared free to all who might wish to settle 
there. 

Nevertheless, colonization, during the management of the Com- 
pany, had made considerable progress. The settlements had as- 
sumed some degree of importance and stability. Tobacco, cotton, 
indigo, rice, and Indian corn were cultivated with success ; while 
more than two thousand slaves were on the plantations of the 
colony. 



208 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1732—1769. 

FHENCH COLONIES LOUISIANA. 

Administration of Governor Perrier — He is succeeded by M. de Bienville — War 
against the Chicactas Indians — Defeat of a party led by M. d'Artaguette — Death 
of this worthy officer — Another engagement with the Chicactas — Establishment 
of Natchitoches — Depth of water found in tlie channels of the Mississippi — 
Population of Louisiana — Its military forces — Administration of M. de Kerlerek 
— Introduction of the cultivation of the sugar-cane by M. Dubreuil — M. de Ker- 
lereli foils the projected attacks of the Anglo-Americans — Cession of Louisiana 
to Spain — Arrival of Governor Ulloa — The citizens refuse to submit to Spanish 
domination — Conspiracy to effect their expulsion — Decree issued by the superior 
council, obliging Governor Ulloa and the Spanish troops to leave the colony — 
Claims of the Louisianians on tlie French government — O'Reilly sent by the 
court of Madrid to take possession of Louisiana — The Louisianians, wishing to 
declare the independence of their country, apply to the English, then at Pen- 
sacola, to assist them — O'Reilly's arrival at New Orleans — He promises an am- 
nesty, and forgetfulness of all that has occurred, but orders the execution of six 
of the principal conspirators. 

Governor Perrier began to govern the province of Louisiana 
on behalf of the king in 1732. His first care was to provide ade- 
quate means of defence. He completed Fort Conde, at Mobile, 
which he garrisoned with sixty men. Nearly fifteen thousand 
Indians, in the vicinity of Mobile River, were tributary to this 
post. 

For some time, the design to surround Mobile, which had been 
raised under the protection of Fort Conde, with a regular bastioned 
inclosure, was entertained; but it was abandoned on account of 
the expense that it would involve. The town increased according 
to the caprice of those who came there to settle ; but at no time 
was it very considerable. M. Perrier rebuilt the fort at Natchez, 
its position on the river being important to keep in check the 
Indians of that quarter. He also built a fort at the point where 
the St. Francis empties into the Mississippi; and another, called 



ADMINISTRATION OF M. DE BIENVILLE. 209 

Assumption, on Margot River, now Wolf River, above the Chick- 
asaw Bhiffs. He also increased the garrison of Fort Torabeckbee, 
four hundred and eighty miles distant from Mobile. 

In 1732, a powder magazine and barracks were constructed at 
New Orleans, the latter sufficiently large to accommodate three 
hundred soldiers. 

In this year, M. de Verges, engineer of the province, proposed, 
by means of camels, to be kept at the post of Balize, to effect at 
slight expense the passage of vessels drawing eighteen feet across 
the bar of the Mississippi. 

In 1735, M. de Bienville succeeded M. Perrier as governor of 
the province. This able chief was intimately acquainted with 
the country, and had completely identified his fortune with the 
success of colonization in Louisiana. He also thoroughly under- 
stood the Indian character, and appreciated the advantages and 
inconveniences attendant on their vicinity to the French settle- 
ments. One of his first acts, with the object of subduing the 
Chicactas, who had sold themselves to the Anglo-Americans, was 
to require the delivery of the Natchez Indians who had sought 
and obtained refuge among them at the time of the recapture of 
Fort Rosalie by the troops of the province. The answer they 
returned was an indignant and courageous refusal. 

M. de Bienville then declared war against them, to meet the 
expenses of which he issued a paper currency, which was cir- 
culated in the colony. 

His first step was to stir up several neighboring tribes, allies of 
the French, against them. In the mean time, while some of their 
chiefs attempted to approach the governor ostensibly to solicit 
peace, a party fell suddenly on a French post, killed eight sol- 
diers, and carried the officer to their camp. 

M. de Bienville then concluded that with such enemies but 
one course of action was available, a resort to main force. He 
immediately projected a powerful expedition into their territory, 
which he designed to take place in the spring of 1736. He sent 
orders to M. d'Artaguette, commandant at Illinois, to advance 
with his forces on the Chicactas, and to be, in March, on the 
Tombeckbee River, near a point where the Americans have since 
founded the small town called Cotton- Gin- Port, at the head of 
navigation of that river, where he would join him with troops from 
the post of Mobile. Unable to make his preparations for the time 
14 



210 AMERICAN POWER. 

appointed, he sent another messenger to M. d'Artaguette to apprise 
him of his delay; unfortunately, the latter had commenced his 
march, and did not receive the message. D'Artaguette continued 
to advance at the head of a few brave Frenchmen, and a party 
of Illinois and Miami warriors, their allies, and was greatly sur- 
prised not to find M. de Bienville at the place appointed, and still 
more so at receiving no tidings concerning him. Nevertheless, 
as he had boldly penetrated into the country of the Chicactas, and 
was already in sight of their villages, he did not hesitate to attack 
them immediately. But scarcely had he made the first move- 
ment when he found himself surrounded by four or five hundred 
hostile Indians, led by Americans. These rushed with such intre- 
pidity upon their assailants that a panic was produced among the 
Illinois and Miamis, who fled in every direction. M. d'Artaguette, 
seeing himself thus abandoned by his Indian warriors, who com- 
posed the majority of his force, resolved to fall back on the position 
where, under the charge of a few of his men, he had left his stores. 
But the Chicactas pursued him so rapidly that, despite the firm- 
ness and devoted courage of all the officers, soldiers, and citizens 
who had accompanied him in this unfortunate expedition, and 
who vied with one another in feats of bravery, he was entirely 
defeated, for the enemy was far superior in numbers. D'Arta- 
guette had succeeded in checking his assailants with thirty-eight 
Iroquois, twenty-eight Arkansas, and five Frenchmen, who fought 
bravely to defend their flag, when, wounded in several places, this 
heroic oflficer, and the brave followers who covered him with their 
bodies, surrendered. A single officer and a Jesuit were the only 
prisoners taken by the Chicactas. 

D'Artaguette had led forth fifty Canadian Frenchmen, and a 
thousand Indians of various tribes. He had been accompanied 
by Father Senet, who, with the brave Vincennes, was taken pri- 
soner and burned. A city in Illinois was named after Vincennes, 
thereby transmitting his name to posterity. 

This disastrous defeat occurred on Palm Simday. The Chi- 
cactas, having taken all the baggage of the French, were ap- 
prised by means of the letter of Governor de Bienville to Arta- 
guette of his intended attack. This information put them on their 
guard, and they made preparations for defence. 

In this affair, the Louisiana colony lost one of its most distin- 
guished officers, the unfortunate and brave Major d'Artaguette, and 



CONTESTS WITH THE INDIANS. 211 

M. de St. Ange, equally regrelted for his zeal and courage. M. 
de Noyan, nephew of M. de Bienville, was among the wounded. 
The failure of the enterprise paralyzed the subsequent operations 
of the French in this country, where the Anglo-Americans — who 
had incited this war, and, by underhanded means, had directed 
the Indians — gained an ascendency, which increased from year 
to year, to the great detriment of the influence and of the esta- 
blishments of the French. 

In 1737, a hospital was founded in New Orleans. 

The Anglo-Americans continued to arouse the Indian nations 
in the vicinity of the French, and even to incite the allies of the 
latter to attack the colony. They had already succeeded in gain- 
ing over Red Slipper, a Chicactas chief. They also tried to hire 
the Choctaw chief, Red Stocking. Nevertheless, the majority of 
the Choctaws remained faithful to the French. The latter was a 
very powerful tribe, and was spread over an extent of one hun- 
dred and fifty miles. It was distributed in fifty villages, under fifty 
chiefs, with a force of four thousand efl'ective warriors. Its head 
chiefs were Stiscohakko (Blue Wood), and You-la/c-ti-ma-ta-ha, 
the largest of his race. 

In 1739, by a royal edict, the ports of Louisiana and of the 
Antilles were declared free. 

In 1740, the Governor of Louisiana, having received assistance 
from Canada, again tried his fortune against the English and the 
Chicactas tribe ; but was not more successful than he had been 
on previous occasions. When favorable circumstances at length 
brought about a reconciliation with the Indians, a treaty of peace 
was concluded by M. de Bienville. After that period, the tran- 
quillity of the colony was no longer disturbed by them. These 
two expeditions cost France more than one million livres (two 
hundred thousand dollars). 

In 1743, the settlement of Natchitoches, two hundred and six- 
teen miles above the mouth of Red River, and three hundred and 
ninety-six miles from New Orleans, received a fresh impulse by 
the arrival of new emigrants. 

In 1747, the principal channel of the Mississippi, where the 
post of Balize was established, and which had undergone no 
change for a period of twenty-eight years, suddenly became 
closed. Its depth was only seven or eight feet. On the other 



212 AMERICAN POWER. 

hand, the depth of the east channel increased to seventeen feet. 
A French frigate, the Chameau, entered it without difficulty. 

When the wind blew seaward, the tide sometimes rose three 
feet four inches at the lower part of the river. The gradual ele- 
A'ation of the ground near the mouths of the river caused a rise in 
the tides when certain winds prevailed. This fact was noticed 
by M. Duverger, who had carefully made observations on the 
rise and fall of the waters at the Balize. 

In 1750, the population of Louisiana amounted to about five 
thousand whites, and two thousand five hundred slaves. The 
military strength of the colony was two thousand men, fifty of 
whom were Swiss, distributed as follows : — 

1000 men in the garrison at New Orleans. 

500 " " at Mobile. 

300 " " at Arkansas. 

50 " " at Natchez. 

50 " *' at Natchitoches. 

50 " " at Pointe Coupee. 

50 " " at the Germans' Coast. 

Thus, Louisiana, after half a century, was still a colony without 
a name, without productions, without industry, without inhabit- 
ants, and exposed to the insults and depredations of the Indians. 

In 1751, M. de Kerlerek was appointed governor-general. He 
favored the trade of English interlopers, thus causing much trou- 
ble and discord. The colony at that period had equal reason to 
regret the serious conflicts between the governor and the commis- 
sary De Rochemore. 

At this period, the inhabitants began to think seriously of the 
necessity of commencing agricultural pursuits, the sole resource 
of these rich countries. The introduction of the sugar cane was 
contemplated. As far back as 1742, the Jesuits had succeeded in 
preserving a few stalks which they had obtained from St. Do- 
mingo. Several experiments had been made to grow the cane 
on a small scale, when M. Dubreuil, one of the richest men in 
the colony, as well as one of those most interested in everything 
connected with its prosperity, undertook to cultivate it extensively. 
Having sent to St. Domingo for the cane, he succeeded, in 1757 
and 1758, in making brown sugar of an excellent quality, several 
samples of which he transmitted to the minister of France. 



ADMINISTRATION OF M. DE KERLEREK. 213 

The death of this zealous colonist suspended, for a time, these 
experiments. But at length M. de Mazan, an old retired officer, 
and one of the richest inhabitants of the colony, with the object 
of prosecuting them on a large scale, obtained very ripe cane, 
which he ground upon his own plantation, and succeeded in 
producing a beautiful article, which, for quality and quantity, 
equaled the product of the St. Domingo and Martinique cane. 

In 1760, M. de Kerlerek baffled the projects of the Anglo- 
Americans, who, with the purpose of attacking the colony, had 
succeeded in detaching a portion of the Choctaw nation from the 
interest of the French. He afterwards constructed a continuous 
inclosure, composed of a battlemented palisade and a ditch, and 
flanked it by five redoubts, which completely protected New Or- 
leans against any sudden attack. The citizens were then enrolled 
and organized as militia. The command of these was given to 
old retired officers, among whom were MM. d'Aremberg, Favrost, 
Pontalba, the Chevalier Macarty, De Mazan, Leblanc, Olivier, 
Duverger, father and son, Bienvenu, sergeant major of militia, 
and Beaure, Lavergne, and Trudeau. 

The administration of M. de Kerlerek had been fortunate for 
Louisiana, which was just commencing to rise from her state of 
lethargy, when, at the close of the war between France and Eng- 
land, a shameful peace was purchased by the cession of our pos- 
sessions in Canada to the English crown. However, this peace 
might have operated to its advantage. The Louisianians believed 
that the future would bring with it better times, and that their fur 
trade would be augmented by a part of that which had formerly 
passed through Canada. Commerce with the French islands became 
more brisk after the peace of 1763. As intercourse wuth Mexico, 
which had been interrupted by the war, was renewed, the arrival 
of French vessels upon the shores of the Mississippi became more 
frequent. Canadian emigrants arrived in crowds from Canada to 
increase the resources and productive strength of the colony. In 
fine, at the very time the future seemed to open with a smiling and 
unusually encouraging prospect, the French government officially 
announced to the people of Louisiana, on the 21st of April, 1764, 
through the medium of M. Dabbadie, director-general and com- 
mandant of the province, that, by a secret convention of the 3d 
of November, 1762, Louis the Fifteenth had ceded New Orleans, 
and all the country extending along the right bank of the Missis- 



214 AMERICAN POWER. 

sippi, to the crown of Spain. Thus did France, in a single day, 
resign the work of a century — a work which had cost so much 
trouble, so much generous blood, so much treasure. Thus did she 
renounce her rights, and disinherit her children of a place of rest 
and of refuge in the New World ! Strange fatality, which always 
directs the actions of governments against the interests of the 
governed ! 

The history of French colonization in the province of Louisiana 
would conclude with the cession of this colony to the crown of 
Spain, and all interest which attaches to it would cease as far as 
relates to the French, if the atrocities subsequently inflicted by the 
Spaniards upon our fellow-citizens did not require our notice, in 
connection with important facts concerning the colony of Louis- 
iana. 

The Louisiana colonists manifested the greatest aversion to 
Spanish dominion. This disposition, well known to the mother 
country, had no influence upon the arrangements concluded be- 
tween the Courts of Versailles and Madrid. On the fifth of March, 
1766, M. d'Ulloa arrived in the colony with eighty soldiers. 
Nevertheless, he did not take immediate possession of the country 
in the name of his master; and the colony continued to be admi- 
nistered in the name of the King of France, under M. Aubry. 
M. d'Ulloa asked permission merely to establish a few posts on 
the river. His desire was accomplished ; and from the mouth of 
the river to the Illinois, three distinct flags were seen to wave in 
the breeze — those of France, Spain, and England. Everything 
remained perfectly quiet. 

Nevertheless, from that time, the expenses of the government 
and administration of Louisiana were borne by the King of Spain ; 
and no vessel could arrive there from France unless furnished 
with a Spanish passport. 

M. d'Ulloa only awaited the arrival of the forces necessary to 
take ostensible possession of the colony when the revolt of the 
29th of October, 1768, broke out. 

The inhabitants could not believe that Spain wished to secure 
possession of this province, because of the few advantages to its 
government such possession would be likely to produce. They 
thought rather that M. d'Ulloa and his officers were agents sent 
out to ascertain the resources of the country; and, as they seemed 
to be but ill satisfied, the people of Louisiana concluded that the 



ARRIVAL OF O'REILLY IN LOUISIANA. 215 

reports made to the Spanish government must have been very 
unfavorable. 

Such was the feeling of the Louisianlans when the King of 
Spain issued a law which interdicted all commercial relations 
with those markets which had heretofore received their produce. 
Instead of attempting to quiet the feelings of the colonists, and 
thus inducing them to conform to the views of the Spanish govern- 
ment, Ulloa manifested intolerable haughtiness, imposed heavy 
taxes upon the people, and, by repeated arbitrary measures, ex- 
cited their hatred. 

The Louisianians were goaded to desperation. They could not 
reconcile themselves to the idea of being subject to foreign laws; 
and they requested the council of their colony to inform the Spanish 
government that it must retire. 

This decree was issued on the 28th of October, 1768; and M. 
d'Ulloa was compelled to yield to it, notwithstanding the repre- 
sentations made by M. Aubry to the general council, and to the 
principal leaders of this movement. 

This manifestation of loyalty on the part of the Louisianians 
towards the government of the mother country who had abandoned 
them, and of hatred to that of Spain, was conducted with ability 
and all the outward signs of legality. No acts of violence were 
committed. Deputies were sent to the government of France; 
but they did not reach their destination till six weeks after the 
arrival of Governor d'Ulloa. The public sympathized with the 
colonists; but the ministers manifested towards them the greatest 
displeasure! Nothing could change 'the decree against the poor 
colony. The Spanish government ordered General O'Reilly, an 
Irishman by birth, in the service of Spain, to sail from the Island 
of Cuba, with three thousand regular troops, to Louisiana, whither 
he arrived in a frigate, with twenty-three transports, on the 12th 
of August, 1769. 

The excitement of the Louisianians, on receiving the news of 
the return of the Spaniards, is beyond description. They were 
anxious to oppose their landing, to burn their vessels, to declare 
a republic, and to place themselves under the protection of Eng- 
land. MM. de Bienville and Mazan had made advances to the 
authorities of Pensacola, then in possession of the English, to 
ascertain their feelings upon the subject; but their overtures had 
been received with coldness. It is, moreover, authentically proved 



216 AMERICAN POWER. 

by the records of the criminal trials of that period, by published 
memoirs, and by the publication of a pamphlet entitled "Reflec- 
tions of a Citizen," that the principal chiefs of the superior council 
of Louisiana, and a great part of the leading men of that colony, 
had entertained the idea of declaring their country a republic f 
that this bold enterprise had been quietly contrived, through the 
medium of commissioner Foucault, at the residence of the widow 
Pradel, where the conspirators met nightly; that from this house 
MM. de Noyan and de Mazan repaired to the English authorities 
at Pensacola, with the object of obtaining their recognition of the 
important act declaratory of their independence. Hence it appears 
that, but for some unimportant circumstances. New Orleans would 
have robbed Boston of the honor of being the cradle of American 
liberty! 

Such were the sentiments of the people when General O'Reilly 
issued a proclamation, in which he promised peace and tranquil- 
lity to the people. The commandant Aubry,t successor of M. 
Dabbadie, who died miserably in New Orleans, played a part in 
this afllair unworthy of a Frenchman, and of an old defender of 
Fort Duquesne. Interposing in behalf of the Spaniards, he made 
declarations to the inhabitants which induced them at length to 
permit the entrance of the Spanish ships and troops into New 
Orleans. 

But Spanish vengeance soon displayed itself, and French blood 
was the first to flow for liberty on American soil as a pious oflfer- 
ing, as the first fruits of a still greater tribute to be paid to it, 
some years later, by our compatriots, the allies of the immortal 
Washington. 

On the very day of O'Reilly's reception, after a dinner to 
which all the persons of distinction, military and civil, had been 
invited, twelve of their number were arrested, and immediately 
tried and executed! Five of these citizens were beheaded for 
their religious devotion to their country and to liberty, namely: 
MM. Nicholas Chovin de la Fresniere, king's advocate (this pa- 
triot would not consent to utter a single word in his defence, so 
sacred did he consider his cause, so vile did he regard his enemies 

* Extract from official documents in the Naval Archives. 
t Captain Aubry, after O'Reilly had taken definitive possession of Louis- 
iana, sailed for France, was wrecked on the coast, and perished. 



SPANISH COLONIES. 217 

the judges) ; Jean Baptiste de Noyan, a half pay captain of cavalry ; 
Pierre Carresse, merchant; Pierre Marquis, an old Swiss officer; 
Joseph Milhet, merchant. M. Villere died of his wounds before 
he was brought to trial. 

MM. Joseph Petit, merchant ; Balthazar Mazan ; Julien Jerome 
Doucet, lawyer ; Jean Milhet, merchant; Pierre Poupet, merchant ; 
and Pierre Hardi de Boisblanc, counselor, were sent to languish 
in the dungeons of Havana. 

M. Foucault was the only one of the accused who was permitted 
to return to France to be tried by his government. 

This horrible tragedy, ordered by the Spanish minister, created 
no feeling of indignation in the French ministry. But it will never 
be forgotten by France any more than the new proofs of attach- 
ment which the people of Louisiana have manifested towards her. 



CHAPTER XX. 
1512—1821. 

SPANISH COLONIES LOUISIANA, FLORIDA. 

Discovery of Florida; its settlement-St. Augustine founded-St. Joseph's Bay— 
St. Mark-Pensacola-Coridnct of tlie Spaniards towards the natives-Occupation 
of West Florida by the English— Louisiana ceded to Spain— The English driven 
from their posts in West Florida— Situation of the colony at that period— Form 
of the government and of the administration— New boundary treaty between 
Spam and the United States-The Americans obtain the free navigation of the 
Mississippi, and the right to store their produce in New Orleans-Difficulties 
arising from the execution of this treaty-Louisiana re-ceded to France; subse- 
quently sold by the French Republic to the United States-Importance of this 
acquisition to the United States-Spain for several years keeps possession of 
±.ast Florida-Definitive cession of all Florida to the United States-Its political 
advantages to the American Union. 

The discovery of Florida by the Spaniards, as we have already 
stated in Chapter I., dates as far back as 1512; consequently, 
this discovery is anterior to that of any other point on the con- 
tinent. Its settlement also preceded that of the North American 
colonies. 

According to the histories of that early period, it would appear 



218 AMERICAN POWER. 

that this country, at the time of the arrival of the Europeans, was 
as populous as Peru or Mexico. It was supposed to be exceed- 
ingly favorable to colonization ; for the earth was strewn with 
flowers, and the climate was delightful. These advantages are 
real — they have not changed. No part of the territory of the United 
States presents conditions so favorable to man; but the soil is by 
no means so generous as the spontaneous growth of flowers, so 
very seductive to the eye, would seem to indicate. The vege- 
tation and bloom are owing rather to the soft temperature of a 
climate uniformly warm, than to the richness of the soil, which is 
composed chiefly of sand. 

But the real advantages of Florida were not the objects which 
the Spaniards sought when they discovered it. As their insatiable 
thirst for gold, and their hope of finding treasures in the bosom of 
the earth, or fountains which would impart eternal youth, found 
no encouragement, they confined themselves to the establishment 
of military posts along the coast, by means of which they might 
easily maintain intercourse with the natives of the interior, and 
with their principal station in the Gulf at Havana. 

It was thus that, in 1565, they founded St. Augustine on the 
shores of the Atlantic, St. Joseph and St. Mark on the Gulf, and, 
in 1696, Pensacola, also on the gulf. Neither of these posts ra- 
pidly increased. Their existence depended entirely on the neces- 
sities and expenses of the garrisons, or agents of the government, 
who composed nearly the whole population. 

St. Augustine, which appears to have been the most consider- 
able, has never had, at any time, more than from fifteen to eighteen 
hundred inhabitants, notwithstanding it is situated in the midst 
of orange groves, at the bottom of a splendid bay, in proximity to 
a fine river, the St. John, and in a most temperate and healthy 
climate. This little town has, in consequence of these advan- 
tages, been the resort of all strangers, or colonists from the Antilles, 
whom sickness has compelled to seek, under a serener sky, the 
restoration of their broken health ; but it has never been a com- 
mercial or a manufacturing city. Nevertheless, its importance 
as the chief town of the Spanish colony, and its proximity to the 
Anglo-American settlements, frequently rendered it an object of 
envy to the latter, who several times attacked it, though without 
success. 

The Bay of St. Joseph, on the gulf, had, at an early day, been 



PENSACOLA. 219 

noticed, by Spanish, English, and French navigators, in con- 
sequence of the good anchorage it afforded; the safety of its har- 
bor, permitting the entrance of vessels drawing eighteen feet of 
water; and its proximity to the Antilles. Several temporary, but 
no permanent, establishments had been formed there. In 1708, 
the French made the attempt, but soon abandoned it. It devolved 
on the Americans to give a commercial and political existence to 
this place, and to insure its permanency. Their active and pene- 
trating mind enabled them to appreciate the advantages which so 
admirable a position, now a part of Georgia, must develop in the 
future. 

St. Mark was settled in a more permanent manner by the 
Spaniards. Here they raised a fort, to which the Indians of the 
interior came to exchange their furs for other commodities. The 
port still serves as an outlet to Tallahassee, the capital of Florida ; 
but all its advantages are nearly destroyed by the proximity and 
superiority of St. Joseph. 

Pensacola, after St. Augustine, was the principal seaport of 
the Spaniards in Florida with respect to population ; but for the 
extent and safety of its roadstead, w'here frigates can enter, it 
ranks first. After Havana, it is the best harbor in the Gulf of 
Mexico. It was known to De Soto and his companions, in 1558, 
under the name of Jlnchosi or Jlchusi. In 1693, the Spaniards 
named it St. Mary; and in 1696, St. Mary de Galvez. 

In 1700, Pensacola contained a population, including the gar- 
rison, of only two hundred inhabitants, who depended entirely 
upon Havana for their provisions. This condition, moreover, has 
never varied at any period. Its inhabitants have never manifested 
sufficient industry to provide for their own necessities. 

Florida was settled by Spaniards stimulated by religious fana- 
ticism, which prompted the Catholic missionaries to make prose- 
lytes among the numerous Indian nations of the New World. But 
we must, at the same time, acknowledge that the Spaniards have 
always treated the natives with more loyalty, deference, kindness, 
and justice than any other of the European nations. From the 
first, they adopted the principle never to arm the Indians. They 
afterwards made attempts to convert them to Christianity, and 
finally completely amalgamated with them. 

The Franciscan missionaries have been the principal agents of 
the Spaniards among the Indian nations into whose country they 



220 AMERICAN POWER. 

penetrated. They boldly advanced among the Appalaches, also 
named J]palates, j^ppelatche, and Pulassi. These Indians, the 
mountaineers of North America, lived among the Alleghany 
Mountains, which, indistinctly known under the name of these 
tribes, have, from that time, retained the characteristic name of 
the Jipalachian Mountains. The missionaries converted so many 
of these Indians to the Catholic faith that, when they were driven 
from Carolina by the Anglo-Americans, a great number sought 
refuge under the walls of St. Augustine, and others around the 
settlements of Mobile, Pensacola, and Spiritu Santo Bay. Under 
the name of Florida, the Spaniards claimed a great portion of 
American territory, including a part of South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and all Louisiana and 
Texas. 

As France had settled the shores of the Mississippi, and colo- 
nized Louisiana, the territory included in this province was ac- 
knowledged as French property. 

In 1760, the people of the English colonies, who had been 
encroaching on the domains of Spain in the Floridas, obtained 
a settlement definitively establishing the boundary between the 
Anglo-American and the Spanish possessions. It was then that 
the River St, Mary became the line of demarkation between 
Georgia and Florida. . 

Governor Oglethorpe, of Georgia, who had taken Havana from 
the Spaniards in 1762, restored it to them in 1763, in exchange 
for Florida, which thus passed to the possession of the English. 
The principal settlements, at that time, were St. Matthew, St. 
Augustine, St, Mark, St. Joseph, and Pensacola. The British 
government, wishing to establish planters in Florida, offered, the 
following year, 1764, one hundred acres of land to any head of a 
family that would settle there, and fifty to each person he would 
take with him, on condition that he would pay an annual rent of 
one cent per acre. Notwithstanding these advantageous condi- 
tions, the colony did not increase rapidly. 

Louisiana, ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762, passed 
'under the rule of that power in 1769, as we have already stated 
in treating of the colonial history of that French province. Ge- 
neral O'Reilly was charged with the consummation of this act, 
in which he displayed great cruelty and an odious spirit of ven- 
geance. In order to remain peaceful master of this colony, he 



CONDITION OF NEW ORLEANS. 221 

expelled the Anglo-Americans and Jews, and instituted a military 
governraent, which insured to Spain the supremacy of her laws 
and principles. 

He bequeathed his administration to Don Luis Unzaga, who 
was himself replaced, in 1780, by Don Bernard de Galvez, an 
able and enterprising man, whose administration was more popu- 
lar than that of his predecessors. 

In 1780, Governor-General Galvez set on foot an expedition 
against the Anglo-Americans settled on several points of West 
Florida. He marched on Baton Rouge and Mobile, which he 
succeeded in taking. The surrender of these posts was followed 
by that of Pensacola in 1781 ; and thus all West Florida fell un- 
der the power of Spain. East Florida remained in possession of 
the English. 

General Galvez, after the successful issue of his expedition, 
sought to introduce order in the administration of his government. 
The colony recovered a little tranquillity while this able governor 
remained at the head of affairs. 

The military resources of the colony, at this period, consisted 
of a single regiment of regular infantry, whose effective force did 
not amount to more than twelve hundred men, instead of two 
thousand and two hundred, the full complement ; of one battalion 
of militia, whose contingent was indefinite; one of the Germans 
of the Coast; and one of colored people : in all, about five or six 
thousand men. 

The population of New Orleans was, at the same time, from 
eight to ten thousand inhabitants ; and that of the whole colony 
about one hundred thousand. 

In the governmental organization of the colony, as modified by 
Galvez, the military governor was also president of the courts of 
justice and of commerce. 

The intendant, or civil governor, had under his control a con- 
tador major, and royal officers, who formed an admiralty court 
and a chamber of accounts. 

The court of justice was subordinate to the supreme jurisdiction 
of the royal audience of Mexico. 

The bishop resided in New Orleans, and was assisted by a 
numerous clergy, distributed throughout the parishes according to 
the necessities of the colony. 

The public revenue was raised from the proceeds of the cus- 



222 AMERICAN POWER. 

toms. The duties imposed were six per cent, on exports, and on 
importations from Spain; and fifteen per cent, on foreign importa- 
tions. 

The custom-house employed a great number of agents; but the 
revenue was far from covering the expenses of the administration. 
The deficit was generally estimated at about one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. 

At that period, this colony was prized only for the value of its 
hides, which, in the markets of Europe, it was thought, could 
compete with those of Buenos Ayres. 

The Rio Bravo, according to the Spaniards, was the boundary 
line between the province of Louisiana and that of Texas, 

At the general peace in 1783, East Florida was restored to 
Spain, which thus again possessed both Floridas, as well as 
Louisiana. 

In 1795, the Americans concluded a treaty with the govern- 
ment of Spain, by which they obtained a new boundary line on 
their Florida frontier. All the Spanish settlements to the south 
of the thirty-first degree of latitude were evacuated and passed 
under the dominion of the United States ; and the free navigation 
of the Mississippi, as well as the right of storing merchandize in 
New Orleans, was granted to American vessels. But the Span- 
iards did not respect the articles of the treaty, and the United 
States made preparations to compel compliance by main force. 
For that purpose, troops were assembled on the Ohio in readiness 
to descend to New Orleans. 

In 1800, Bonaparte, then first consul, obtained from Spain the 
retrocession of Louisiana. This treaty was concluded on the 1st 
of October, more than one year previous to the unfortunate expe- 
dition that had been fitted out to retake St. Domingo, and the day 
after the convention signed with the United States relative to the 
right of neutrals. But the treaty had remained a secret, and 
Bonaparte had deferred taking possession of Louisiana until he 
could effect his purpose with more safety. If he could have re- 
covered St. Domingo and Louisiana, he would thus have elevated 
anew, in the islands and on the continent of America, the colohial 
power of France. 

The disaster of St. Domingo prevented the realization of this 
great scheme. 

The right granted to American vessels to store goods in New 



LOUISIANA CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES. 223 

Orleans had been tacitly prolonged since the expiration of its 
first limit; but the Spanish intendant, Morales, subsequently sup- 
pressed it by a proclamation of the 16th of October, 1802. This 
unexpected prohibition aroused the discontent of the Americans, 
who could not dispense with the free navigation of the Mississippi, 
nor with the commercial facilities that the right of deposit gave 
them. 

Threats of invasion were renewed in the Western States. In 
the meanwhile, President Jefferson demanded of Spain the ful- 
filment of her treaty of 1795, and commenced negotiations with 
France for the cession of New Orleans, and a part of the left shore 
of the Mississippi. 

Bonaparte, however, had made preparations for the occupation 
of Louisiana. M. Laussat had been appointed maritime prefect 
of the colony, and General Victor governor. 

But on the approach of the war which was so soon again to 
rekindle Europe, the first consul, wishing to collect all his dis- 
posable forces around him, renounced his intention of sending 
troops to America, as they would be much more essential to him 
at home. 

On the other hand, the Americans solicited from the French 
government the cession of the city of New Orleans and the lands 
adjacent. Their negotiator. Chancellor Livingston, even proposed 
that the territory belonging to the colony, situated to the north of 
Arkansas, should be added to the cession. From that time, the 
first consul gave up all idea of occupying Louisiana, and deter- 
mined to cede to the United States a possession which he at first 
felt desirous of securing for France. He hoped, by such an ar- 
rangement, to oppose a counterpoise to the maritime power of 
Great Britain; for he saw in this rivalry of interests, and in this 
balance of power, a new means of resisting the monopoly and 
exclusive pretensions of a single nation. 

The decree of the 3d of April, 1803, fixed the terms of this 
cession; and the Americans, for the small sum of fifteen million 
dollars, acquired the rights of France over that magnificent colony 
and its dependencies, agreeing, on their part, to indemnify their 
fellow-citizens for the losses they had sustained by the illegal 
capture of their vessels and cargoes, losses amounting to upwards 
of five million dollars. 

Though this colony had been separated from France forty years; 



224 AMERICAN POWER. 

though the first generation had passed away ; and though the in- 
terests, manners, and laws of the people had been modified, the 
ascendency of old associations and of early aflfections still remain- 
ed ; and when the people learned that they w^ere about to be 
governed once more by the laws of their fatherland, their emotions 
were profound. 

To accomplish the cession of Louisiana, it became necessary, 
in the first place, that the Spanish authorities should restore it to 
the French, who had been commissioned to receive it. Accord- 
ingly, on the 30th of November, 1803, the government of Louis- 
iana was transferred to M, Laussat, who had for several months 
resided in New Orleans, though not in the employment of govern- 
ment, by M. de Salcedo and the Marquis of Casa-Calvo, brigadiers 
in the Spanish army, and commissioners of his Catholic majesty. 

For the most important facts here related, we are indebted to 
the Moniteur de la Louisianey the official journal of New Orleans; 
and we refer our readers to the proclamation addressed to the 
Louisianians, on that occasion, by M. Laussat, in the name of 
the French Republic. 

This new functionary only temporarily performed the duties to 
which he had been called. Nevertheless, he appointed a new 
municipal council, and adopted several important internal regu- 
lations, then of the utmost importance to public tranquillity. The 
municipal council was composed of twelve members and a secre- 
tary, as follows: MM. Bore, mayor; Derbigny, secretary; Des- 
trehan, first assistant to the mayor; Sauve, second assistant; 
Livaudais, sen.. Petit Cavelier, Villeray, Johns, sen., Fortier, sen., 
Donaldson, Faurie, Allard, jun., Tureaud, John Watkins, and 
Labatut, treasurer of the city. 

M. Beilechasse was appointed colonel of the New Orleans mi- 
litia, and instructor of the companies of free men of color. 

With the object of preparing the second transfer of sove- 
reignty, the American general, Wilkinson, advanced, on the 20th 
of December, with a body of troops towards New Orleans, and 
issued an order of the day. On the same day, the government 
of the colony was transferred to W. C. C. Claiborne, United States 
commissioner, who was appointed to take possession of it. Mr. 
Claiborne, on this occasion, addressed a proclamation to the Louis- 
ianians, published in English, French, and Spanish, and deli- 
vered an address in the great hall of the court house. 



IMPORTANCE OF LOUISIANA. 225 

The French flag had waved for twenty days over the public 
buildings of New Orleans. It was delivered with military honors 
into the hands of the French commissioner, and saluted with the 
most enthusiastic acclamations by the whole population. 

Thus passed under the dominion of the Anglo-Americans the 
colony of Louisiana, the last possession of France on the Ame- 
rican continent, founded amid the most brilliant expectations, 
called to the most imposing destinies, and for which the French 
government only obtained a few million francs, not even an equi- 
valent for the free entrance of the American JYile, thus abandoned 
to the United States, and thus insuring to them the entire posses- 
sion of all North America at no very distant period. 

As territory, the acquisition of Louisiana was in many respects 
a substantial advantage; for, by the treaty of cession, the United 
States inherited the same rights, titles, and claims to the whole 
extent of country to the east, and principally to the west of the 
Mississippi, that Spain and France enjoyed. The French had 
pushed their settlements west of the Mississippi as far as the 
river Aux Cannes, in the Bay of San Bernard, the Red River, 
and the Arkansas, in the province of Texas. The frontiers be- 
tween the Spanish colony of New Mexico and Louisiana had 
never been officially settled. Hence, the Americans took posses- 
sion of things as they found them, and could thus claim rights of 
property to a great portion of Texas. 

The destiny of the louisianians had again changed; but they 
were no longer dependent upon the caprice, will, or ignorance of 
their government. They at once became invested, by the act of 
occupation of the United States, with the rights and prerogatives 
of a constitution, and of a free government. In fact, the Louis- 
ianians, when they became free citizens of the United States, 
immediately entered into the enjoyment of all the rights belonging 
to freemen, and participated directly in the prosperity of their 
country by constituting a government for themselves. And, cer- 
tainly, the happiness they have since enjoyed, and the miraculous 
prosperity of their adopted country, need never cause them to 
regret a political change to which they were forced to submit, 
though they had not even been consulted in relation to it. Should 
bygone times have been unprofitable to them, their recompense 
both for the present and the future consists in their singular posi- 
tion, destined to be the outlet to the labor and industry of the 
15 



226 AMERICAN POWER. 

millions of freemen who shall people the rich and immense west- 
ern territory of America! 

From 1800 to 1819, that part of Florida lying between St. 
Augustine and Pensacola remained in the possession of Spain. 
Spain took no pains to secure her territory against the encroach- 
ments of adventurers, who, on several occasions, profiting by its 
vicinity to the United States, attempted to annoy the latter govern- 
ment. 

The Americans were not the people quietly to tolerate such a 
state of things. The government of the United States, as far back 
as 1811, fearing that Spain would cede this country to some 
European power, adopted the necessary measures to prevent such 
a result. It perseveringly and skillfully negotiated with the court 
of Madrid for its acquisition. To a country already so rich in 
lands as the Union, Florida was of but little value with respect 
to its soil; but it was of immense importance in a national point 
of view, as completing the maritime frontier of the United States 
on the gulf, and, above all, as withdrawing from an enemy of the 
United States all means of aggression, by depriving him of the 
only point where he could land on their territory. 

At the same time, and to rest their negotiations on a tangible 
basis, the Americans, having been compelled to punish the out- 
rages committed by several Indian tribes upon their citizens on 
the borders of Alabama and Georgia, took possession of St. Mark 
and Pensacola, in 1810, under the plea that the Spaniards had 
not sufficient force at these two points to prevent the incursions 
of the Indians, who continued to obtain munitions of war from 
these two posts. Nevertheless, Pensacola was restored to the 
Spaniards after the Americans had taken vengeance on some of 
the foreign agents who had instigated these savages to attack the 
borderers. But they held possession of St. Mark. 

By the treaty of the 22d of February, 1819, Spain at length 
definitively ceded Florida to the American government for the 
sum of five million dollars, the amount of the claims of American 
merchants on the Spaniards for the property that had been con- 
demned by them in the ports of Spain. The Spanish government 
also renounced all her rights, prerogatives, and claims over the 
territory north of the forty-second degree of latitude, starting from 
a line intersecting the Arkansas River. 

Transfer of possession took place in 1821. Since that period, 



OREGON TERRITORY. 227 

the territory of Florida has been permanently attached to the 
American Union. Its purchase from Spain, under the presidency 
of James Monroe, is undoubtedly in American history an event 
of the greatest importance in a political point of view, and does 
as much honor to the diplomatic talents of this chief magistrate 
as to his profound knowledge of the true interests of the United 
States. 

Thus was the maritime frontier of the Union completed. But 
one national jurisdrction has thenceforth extended from Passama- 
quoddy Bay, in the east, to the Sabine River, west of the Missis- 
sippi, on the Gulf of Mexico. Hence, there has been no further 
reason to fear the aggressions and internal dissensions which a 
foreign enemy could stir up on this territory by assuming the garb 
of neutrality, or, rather, by reason of the weakness of the Spanish 
government, which was unable to enforce respect for its laws. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

OREGON TERRITORY. 

Description of Oregon territory — Historical summary of all the partial or complete 
expeditions to the north-west coast of the Pacific, and Oregon territory — Ex- 
pedition of Captains Lewis and Clarke — Settlement of the Columbia by J. J. 
Astor — Occupation of the American establishments by the English — Convention of 
1S18 — Hudson's Bay Company — Its organization — Sandwich Islands — Treaty of 
1823 between Russia and Great Britain — Negotiations commenced, in 1827, 
between England and the United States — Treaty of 1828 between the United 
States and Mexico — Measures adopted by the government at Washington rela- 
tive to the occupation of Oregon — Emigrations of Americans towards the western 
regions — Final settlement of the Oregon territory. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE OREGON TERRITORY. 

The United States attain the western coast of North America 
through the Oregon territory, and thus extend their domain from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. This remarkable geographical 
position must powerfully contribute towards the brilliant destinies 
which await the American Union. It favors, in fact, on its own 



228 AMERICAN POWER. 

soil, the prodigious development to which its inhabitants, in their 
insatiable activity, are tending; insures to them the means of 
participating in the great commercial interests which attract all 
the nations of Europe toM^ards the regions of the Pacific Ocean; 
and places them in a condition to take an active part in the great 
struggles which must eventually occur for commercial supremacy 
on the ocean — struggles whose causes, in my opinion, are con- 
tinually augmenting, each day threatening more and more the 
peace of the world. 

Under the denomination of Oregon Territory, the Americans 
include all that portion of territory lying west of the Rocky Mount- 
ains to the shores of the great ocean, and extending along the coast 
from parallel 42° to 54° 40' north latitude. The forty-second 
degree has been established by treaty between the United States 
and Mexico as the southern boundary; and 54° 40' has been 
assumed by the Americans as the boundary line between their 
possessions and those of the English. 

The treaty concluded in 1846 between the United States and 
Great Britain definitively established the fifty-fourth degree of 
north latitude as the boundary line between these two powers.* 

Long and protracted negotiations had been held before the con- 
clusion of this treaty, in consequence of the claims of England to 
the territory. In this chapter we purpose to give a summary of 
the political and diplomatic points on which both nations based 
their pretensions to the disputed territory. 

The immense territory of Oregon is as yet but very imperfectly 
known. Nevertheless, since the different explorations made by 
order of the United States government, we have been enabled to 

* It is scarcely necessary to inform the American reader that this is an 
error. By the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, ratified 
by the Senate of the United States on the 18th of June, 1846, the boundary 
line of the United States and British territories was declared to be on the 
parallel, of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude till it reaches Queen 
Charlotte's Sound ; thence, through the Straits of Fuca, to the Pacific 
Ocean. Vancouver's Island was thus yielded to Great Britain. This 
treaty secures to the Hudson's Bay Company, during the continuance of 
its charter, the free navigation of the Columbia River up to its intersection 
with ihe parallel of the forty-ninth degree of latitude ; and to the citizens 
of the United States the privilege of freely visiting the rivers and harbors 
north of the forty-nintb degree, — Tr. 



DESCRIPTION OF OREGON TERRITORY. 229 

fix our attention on some facts relative to the agricultural, com- 
mercial, and manufacturing resources of that vast region. 

Among the documents published in 1843 and 1844, by order 
of Congress, we find very interesting information in the report of 
Lieutenant Wilkes, of the United States Navy, relative to his ex- 
plorations of the coast of the Pacific and of the Oregon territory. 

This country is generally mountainous and thickly wooded, 
though containing a few prairies. It is remarkable for the num- 
ber of its rich and fertile valleys, formed by two almost parallel 
chains of mountains, which divide this territory, from the shores 
of the ocean to the Rocky Mountains, into three regions or zones 
of almost equal size, but different with respect to climate, nature 
of soil, and productions. 

But what most essentially characterizes the natural appearance 
of these countries, is the manner in which these high mountains, 
not less than from twelve to fourteen thousand feet above the level 
of the sea, are perforated, north and south, east and west, by the 
Columbia and Oregon Rivers, thus affording means of communi- 
cation through them, without which they would have ever re- 
mained almost insurmountable barriers. 

The most western chain is called the Cascades. It ranges 
parallel with the coast at a mean distance of about one hundred 
and sixty miles, and is formed of a succession of peaks, rising far 
above the level of perpetual snow, which, in these regions, is 
about six thousand feet above the level of the sea. The second 
chain, between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains, is that to 
which the name of Blue Mountains has been given. It is com- 
posed, so to speak, of lesser chains and buttresses detached from 
the principal chain of the Oregon. 

The Columbia is a deep river, with numerous tributaries. Its 
course is almost as extensive as the Mississippi, but not so favor- 
able for navigation. The northern sources of this river flow from 
the midst of the Rocky Mountains in 54° 40' north latitude, and 
in longitude 118° west of Greenwich, and nearly five thousand 
metres (fifteen thousand feet) above the level of the ocean. From 
this point to Wallawalla, in latitude 45°, its course is four hundred 
and forty miles from north to south. It then receives the southern 
branch, known also as the Soptin or Lewis River. The latter runs 
for a distance of five hundred and twenty miles, taking its rise in 
the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 42°, and longitude 110° west 



230 AMERICAN POWER. 

of Greenwich, near the heads of the Yellow Stone, the Platte, the 
Arkansas, and the Rio Colorado of Texas. 

From Wallawalla, the point of bifurcation, the course of the 
Columbia to the ocean is from east to west, and its length two 
hundred and forty miles, only one hundred and twenty of which 
are navigable for sailing vessels. 

The Columbia at its mouth is but twelve feet deep; but the 
common tides rise six feet. The entrance of this beautiful river 
is obstructed by sand banks, constantly changing their position, 
and by breakers caused by southerly and westerly winds, which 
on this coast blow very hard, and render navigation very danger- 
ous to those unacquainted with the river. 

But if the mouth of the Columbia does not afford a large and 
convenient port for American vessels, compensation is found in 
the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, included within the 
limits of the Oregon territory, where there are safe and spacious 
harbors, of easy access to the largest class of vessels. Here the 
tides rise eighteen feet, and are hence favorable for ship-yards 
and naval depots. There is no doubt that, in a short time, the 
United States will establish on these waters a military and naval 
arsenal, and an important naval station, where their navy and 
commercial marine will find a safe and convenient harbor. 

This western coast, however, for the most part obscured by 
thick and dense fogs, is not abundantly provided with havens, 
ports, or harbors, to which vessels can at all times with safety 
retreat; and the only two points on this part of the American 
continent which afford all the advantages and conveniences of 
large and commodious harbors are the port of San Francisco* in 
Upper California, and the Gulf of Juan de Fuca or Puget's Sound. 
The other ports are only of third rate importance, the depth of 
water at their entrance not exceeding from ten to twelve feet. 

Along the coast, the climate is remarkable for its mildness and 
evenness, the mean temperature being 12° 23' centigrade (about 
53° Fahrenheit). In summer, the prevailing winds are from the 
south-west and west; in winter, from the south, west, and south- 
west. The winters continue from December to February. The 
rains commence in November, and continue until March ; they 

* Now in the possession of the United States, by the late treaty of peace 
with Mexico. — Tr. 



DESCRIPTION OF OREGON TERRITORY. 231 

are frequent, but not abundant. There is but little snow, and 
even this rarely remains on the ground more than three days. 
The frosts comnaence in August; the nights are cold. Indian 
corn does not come to maturity. But ihis region is nevertheless 
adapted to all sorts of culture. It is, above all, well wooded, and 
favorable for all kinds of fruit trees. 

The atmospheric conditions of the second region are different ; 
the summers are dry and warmer, and the winters colder. The 
extremes of heat and cold are also more frequent, the thermometer 
varying from — 7° 78' in winter to +42° 23' centigrade ( — 45° 
to +107° Fahr.) in summer, and in the shade. Notwithstanding 
these great changes, the country is considered healthy and very 
favorable for raising cattle, in consequence of its vast prairies, and 
its well-wooded valleys. 

In the third region, approaching the Rocky Mountains, the 
temperature is still more variable, and frequently, within the 
twenty-four hours, all the seasons of the year are felt. The cold 
is very severe in winter, and the heat in summer very intense. 
Rain very seldom falls; and snow is still more uncommon. This 
region is particularly arid, except in very deep valleys, where 
the flocks find nourishment, or where they are attracted by salt 
licks, and therefore is of little value in an agricultural point of 
view. This aridity, sterility, and extreme temperature of climate 
exist only within the chain of the Rocky Mountains. Upon the 
two declivities, nature is more kindly, and vegetation resumes 
its empire, with all the conditions propitious to the existence of 
man. 

From all these facts, we may draw the conclusion that these 
countries are favorable to agriculture only in a moderate degree, 
but exceedingly well adapted for the propagation of cattle and 
other animals which afford such an abundant supply of hides, 
tallow, and furs to the hunters of those regions. Future explora- 
tions may develop the natural resources of the country, such as 
the precious metals, with more certainty; since, on the coast, 
coal has already been found in great quantity, and of very com- 
bustible quality. Regions bearing such striking marks of the 
convulsions caused by subterranean fires must contain within 
their bosom treasures not less precious than those found in Ar- 
kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin, whose geographical posi- 
tions are almost identical. They present also an equally wide 



232 AMERICAN POWER. 

field of industry. Besides, the physical disposition of the country 
presents numerous sites for the establishment of manufactories 
that require great water power. 

Another resource, which must not be overlooked, is the abun- 
dance of all kinds of fish found on the coast, and in the bays and 
rivers of this territory; and particularly the quantity and quality 
of the salmon of the Columbia River. The salmon fisheries sup- 
ply nourishment at present to more than twenty thousand Indians, 
and to all the colonists of those regions, besides furnishing a large 
exportation to the Islands. 



HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF ALL THE EXPEDITIONS MADE TO THE NORTH- 
WEST COAST OF THE PACIFIC, AND TO THE TERRITORY OF OREGON. 

1500—1846. 

Now that we have described the physical aspects of Oregon 
territory, and shown its resources and advantages for a population 
that may one day inhabit it, we shall present a short summary of 
all the partial or complete expeditions to this portion of the Ame- 
rican continent. 

We can vouch for the authenticity of all the facts we are about 
to relate, inasmuch as we have carefully collated all the official 
historical documents published on this subject by the various na- 
tions interested in extending the field of geographical discovery 
in those distant countries with the object of establishing a fur 
trade, at one time so highly lucrative. We have freely consulted, 
and with great interest, the beautiful work of Mr. R. Greenhow, 
published in 1844, by order of the government of the United 
States, at Washington, from which we have obtained much valua- 
ble information, 

Christopher Columbus, who made the first discoveries in the 
New World, in the name of Spain, was also the first to visit the 
western coast of Mexico. In his fourth voyage, in 1500, he dis- 
covered the coast of Honduras, the Mosquito Shore, and the coast 
of Verragua, descending along the isthmus as far as Porto-Bello 
and the River Belen. 

The expeditions of Ponce de Leon to Florida in 1512, of Cortes 
to Mexico in 1517, and of Fernando de Soto to Florida in 1537, 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS. 233 

put the Spaniards in possession of the country between the Capes 
of Florida on the Atlantic and the coasts of Mexico and California 
on the Pacific Ocean, to which they gave the name of New 
Spain. 

Cortes had scarcely become master of the rich empire of Mexico, 
when, desirous of extending the field of his discoveries, he sent 
an expedition composed of two vessels, in 1526, to the Molucca 
Islands. In 1528, Pedro Nunez Maldonado examined, under his 
orders, the west coast of Xalisco from Zacatula to Santiago. 

In 1532, he fitted out an expedition composed of two other 
vessels, the command of which he gave to his relative Diego 
Hurtado de Mendoza, and to Juan de Mazuela. They sailed from 
Tehuantepec. One of these vessels was lost; the other reached 
the port of Xalisco. It was not till one year after the loss of this 
vessel that Cortes heard of the occurrence. He immediately fitted 
out two others, and gave the command of them to Ferdinand 
Grijalva and Diego Bacerra. These vessels sailed in company 
from Tehuantepec, on the 30th of September, 1533 ; but they 
soon parted. 

Grijalva proceeded towards the west, and discovered a group 
of islands known, at this time, under the name of the Revilla 
gigedo. Bacerra sailed along the coast of Xalisco, and was mur- 
dered by his crew. His vessel was seized by Nufio de Guzman, 
who had settled at Guadalaxara, in California. 

Cortes, determined himself to reconnoitre the countries dis- 
covered to the west by Ximenes, sailed with three vessels from 
Chiamatla, in 1535, and united his forces in the Bay of Santa 
Cruz, whence he intended to march for the conquest of a new 
kingdom in Mexico, with the expectation of realizing immense 
wealth. But in this expedition, he encountered nothing but dif- 
ficulty and misery. It was during this long absence from his 
government that Don Antonio de Mendoza was appointed by the 
court of Madrid Governor and Viceroy of New Spain. 

Nevertheless, Cortes succeeded in founding a permanent settle- 
ment on the peninsula which has since received the name of 
California, and thus established the incontestable rights of the 
crown of Spain to that portion of the continent. The bay named 
Santa Cruz by Cortes is probably the same as that which has 
since received the name of Port la Paz, situated on the twenty- 



234 AMERICAN POWER. 

fourth degree of latitude, and about one hundred miles from the 
Pacific Ocean. 

The new Viceroy of Mexico was not less jealous than Cortes 
to advance his fortune by attempting new discoveries in the west. 
He had obtained information respecting this country from a cer- 
tain Alvaro Nunez de Cobeza-Vaca, and from two other Spaniards, 
and a negro, who, detached from the expedition of Paufilo Nar- 
vaez, in 1537, to the Floridas, had traversed these vast regions 
from Tampa Bay, where they had landed, to the shores of Cali- 
fornia. 

These travelers gave the most extravagant accounts of the 
wealth of the countries they had crossed, and of the number of 
cities and inhabitants they had seen. Mendoza determined to 
satisfy himself concerning the truth of these statements, and, 
advised by his friend, the celebrated Bartolorae de Las Casas, he 
sent an expedition, in March, 1539, to Cullacan, under the orders 
of a Franciscan, named Marcos de Niza, accompanied by Hono- 
rato and the negro Estavaiiico, who had crossed the continent 
with Cobeza-Vaca. 

About this period, the last expedition of Cortes was fitted out. 
It was commanded by Francisco de Ulloa, who sailed from Aca- 
pulco with three vessels, in July, 1539. 

One of these vessels was lost near Cullacan ; but with the other 
two Ulloa continued his voyage towards the Bay of Santa Cruz. 
Thence he proceeded to the west, made a complete examination 
of the two shores of the Gulf of California, and ascertained that 
this long peninsula was attached to the main land at the thirty- 
second degree of latitude, although he did not discover the Colo- 
rado River, which empties into the sea at the head of the bay. 
To this bay, Ulloa gave the name of the Sea of Cortes, although 
on the Spanish charts it is generally denominated Vermillion Sea, 
and in others as the Gulf of California. 

In October, 1539, Ulloa again sailed from Santa Cruz, advanced 
westward towards Cape San Lucas, which forms the southern ex- 
tremity of California, and then, with a fair wind, moved towards 
the north. In January, 1540, he discovered an island in latitude 
28°, to which he gave the name of Cedar Island. His crew being 
almost worn out by privations and disease, was compelled to re- 
turn to Santiago, in Xalisco. 

In the meanwhile, the expedition, under the orders of the 



SPANISH EXPEDITIONS. 235 

Franciscan Marcos de Niza, had attained, according to report, 
in the interior of the western regions, the thirty-fifth degree of 
north latitude, and had crossed an extremely rich country, well 
cultivated, and abounding in mines of gold, silver, and precious 
stones, whose inhabitants were represented to be more advanced 
in civilization than those of Mexico or Peru. 

Notwithstanding the evident exaggeration of these reports, the 
Viceroy Mendoza did not hesitate, for a moment, to send imme- 
diately two corps of armed troops, one by land and the other by 
sea, to prepare the conquest of these new countries. 

Fernando de Alarcon received the command of the sea expe- 
dition, and, in May, 1540, sailed from Santiago with two vessels. 
He reached the head of California Bay the following August, and 
discovered the .River Colorado, which he named Rio de JVuestra 
SeTiora de Buena Guia, 

Alarcon ascended this river for more than two hundred and 
forty miles, and afterwards returned to Mexico with the intel- 
ligence that he had been unable to discover any country resem- 
bling the descriptions he had received. 

The land expedition, composed of cavalry and infantry, was 
commanded by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, lately appointed 
governor of New Gallicia, in the place of Nuno de Guzman. This 
intrepid chief, not in the least addicted to exaggeration, advanced 
boldly towards the north, following the directions he had received. 
He penetrated far into the country, despite all the difficulties he 
had to surmount, and reached that part of the territory now known 
as Sonara, situated on that great chain of mountains, to the east 
of the head of the Bay of California, where the River Yaqui and 
Gila take their rise ; and, after having passed two years in vain 
attempts to explore the interior of the country, and in seeking the 
cities and treasures promised by Francisco Marco, he returned to 
Mexico. 

In 1542, Mendoza fitted out another expedition for the explora- 
tion and conquest of the north-western territory. This was led 
by Juan Rodiguez de Cubrillo. He sailed from Navidad in June, 
doubled Cape San Lucas, and reached the forty-fourth degree of 
latitude ; but was soon driven back by head winds, and was 
forced to take shelter in a port of one of the islands of Santa 
Barbara, in latitude 34°, where he died. The pilot Bartolome 
Ferrelo, who had accompanied him, then took command of the 



23t) AIMKRICAN I'OWKR. 

expt'ilition, niul puslu'd his diiscoveriivs (o the north-west as far as 
Cape I^liiiic. Ill rcbriiary, 1 5-1-1, lie discovered a cape, in lati- 
tude 41", wliich he named (\il)o de Fortunas. In March, he 
readied latitude 44*^' ; but head winds soon ch'ove him to the south, 
where his crew, com])letely broken th)\vii by fatij^ue and i)riva- 
tions, was compelled to take shelter in the port ol" Navidas. 

The cape newly discovered by Ferrelo was, within a short 
period, named Cupe Mendocino^ in honor ol' the viceroy. 

The Portuguese, during this period, iiail succeeded in opening 
a profitable traile with India; ami their vessels accomplished these 
voyages by the Caiie of (Jood Hope. The S])aniards, with the 
same object, attempted to form establishments in Asia; but their 
expeditions hail faileil up to the middle of the sixteenth century. 

However, in 154-, Uuy Lopez de Villalobos succeeded in cross- 
ing the Pacific, with a small squadron from Mexico, and took 
possession of the Philippine Islands in the name of his sovereign; 
but, a short time after, his forces having been dispersed, all his 
vessels were destroyeil. 

In 1 [)()!, (he Si)aniards, under Miguel de Legaz])i, again at- 
templeil to found an establishment on the Philii^pines, and were 
successful. That navigator, accompanied by Andres de Urdo- 
neta, sailed from Mexico, and crossed the Pacific Ocean. On his 
ret urn voyage, he steered from the Philijjpines to the north-west, 
and reached the fortieth ilegree of latitude, where the variable 
winds permitted him to approach the coast of Calilbrnia, and thus 
to return with ease to Mexico. 

Since that i)eriod, a brisk trade has l)een establishetl between 
Acapulco and Manilla, capital of the Philippines, and Macao in 
China, in which the precious metals and European merchandise 
have been exchanged for silks, spices, anil china, either to be 
consumed in America, or transported to Europe. An important 
commerce has also been established between Panama and the 
ports of Peru and Chili. 

The existence of this trade, and the wealth accumulated in the 
American cities on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, soon came to 
the knowledge of the English, who did not hesitate to surmount 
the ditiiculties of so distant a navigation, when they could secure 
to themselves, in any wise, particij>atioii in the iilunder. 

The first appearance of the l*higlisli in the Pacific was in 1575. 
A party of freebooters, headed by one John Oxenham, crossed the 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 237 

Isthmus of Panama, and, having constructed a vessel on the south- 
ern shore, succeeded in capturing a great number of important 
prizes before they were overcome by the Spaniards, who put all 
of them to death at Panama. 

Sir Francis Drake, three years later, signally avenged the death 
of his fellow-citizens. This celebrated navigator sailed from Ply- 
mouth in 1577, and passed through the Straits of Magellan in 
September, 1578; he then proceeded, with a vessel of one hun- 
dred tons burden and a crew of sixty men, to execute the project 
he had formed, the pillage of the Spanish cities on the west coast 
of America. 

Having attained the object of his voyage, plundered the city 
of Guatulco, on the coast of Mexico, and filled his vessel with 
precious spoils, he was about to return to England in the spring 
of 1579, when, fearing that he might fall in with the Spanish 
vessels while passing through the Straits of Magellan, he deter- 
mined to seek a northern passage to the Atlantic. Consequently, 
in sailing from Guatulco, he doubled the cape towards the north- 
west, and, having sailed about four thousand two hundred miles 
in that direction, he found himself, in the beginning of June, near 
the forty-second degree of north latitude. The severe temperature 
he encountered having induced sickness among his crew, he was 
unable longer to keep at sea, and he determined to seek the shore. 
He soon hove in sight of the coast, and attempted to approach it; 
but, finding no harbor where he could safely anchor, he sailed 
along the shore until he reached the thirty-eighth degree of lati- 
tude, where he entered a large and beautiful bay. This was 
probably the Bay of San Francisco, or of Bodega, a few leagues 
to the north. 

Drake remained some time in this harbor to refresh his crew, 
and to refit his vessel. The natives having ofTered him the sove- 
reignty of the country, he took possession of it in the name of 
Queen Elizabeth, and gave it the name of JVew Albion. 

Having renounced his intention of seeking a northern passage, 
he returned to Europe by sailing directly across the Pacific as far 
as the Philippines, and by following the ordinary route of the 
Portuguese navigators across the Indian seas, and doubling the 
Cape of Good Hope. He reached Portsmouth in September, 
1590. 

On this pretended discovery of Drake, which was nothing bat 



238 AMERICAN POWER. 

a flagrant usurpation of the rights acquired by the Spaniards 
through their navigators, the English now rest their right of pro- 
perty in the Oregon territory, assuming that Drake had examined 
the north-west coast as high as the forty-eighth degree of north 
latitude; and that he had, besides, taken possession, in the name 
of his sovereign, of the country in the Bay of San Francisco, the 
right to which he had acquired from the Indians. 

Now, it is fully proved that Drake never sailed beyond the 
forty-third degree of north latitude; and the act of taking pos- 
session of the lands in the Bay of San Francisco was a violation 
of the rights of the crown of Spain. 

In the voyages constantly made by the Spanish galleons from 
Mexico to India, the vessels were invariably carried by easterly 
winds directly across the Pacific Ocean in three months. But 
their return voyages generally occupied twice that time. The 
vessels sailing from Macao generally directed their course towards 
the west coast of California, which, from that period, became very 
familiar to the Spanish navigators. 

In one of these voyages, in 1584, Francisco Gali touched the 
coast of California in north latitude 37° 35'. Documents of that 
period, preserved in the archives of the India Company, even 
show that the point of the coast he examined was situated in the 
fifty-seventh and a half degree of north latitude. 

In 1595, Sebastian Cermenon, returning from Manilla in the 
ship San Augustin, examined the north-west coast, by order of 
the Viceroy of Mexico, with the object of discovering, if possible, 
a port where vessels coming from India might stop. This vessel 
was lost near the Bay of San Francisco, to t^e south of Cape 
Mendocino. 

Drake's success encouraged a great number of his fellow-citi- 
zens to pursue the same adventurous voyages across the Straits 
of Magellan, and to seek a passage to the Pacific Ocean by the 
north-west. 

Thomas Cavendish or Candish acquired some celebrity by the 
terror which his name inspired among the Spaniards, during his 
voyage around the world in 1587. He anchored for some time 
near Cape San Lucas, the southern extremity of California, and 
then captured the galleon Santa Anna, coming from India and 
bound to Acapulco, pillaged it, burnt it, and abandoned the crew 
upon the coast. The Santa Anna having providentially been cast 



JUAN DE FUCA. 239 

upon the shore, the crew succeeded in putting her in a condition 
fit for sea, and were thus enabled to reach the opposite shore of 
the Gulf of California. Among the crew were Juan de Fuca and 
Sebastian Vizcaino, who afterwards acquired some reputation. 

From the report of the Greek pilot Juan de Fuca — who died in 
Venice in 1602 — and which was published in 1625 by Michael 
Lock, we learn that that pilot had, in 1589, been employed by 
the Viceroy of Mexico to undertake a voyage in search of the 
supposed Straits of Jinian, concerning the existence of which 
various versions were then prevalent ; that, this voyage having 
resulted in nothing of importance, he had, in 1592, been again 
sent to explore the north-west coast; that, between the forty- 
seventh and forty-eighth degree of latitude, he discovered an inlet; 
and that in this inlet he had sailed more than twenty days, of 
which, moreover, he reported a description so faithful, that, at a 
later period, it served to prove not only the truth of his account, 
but the authenticity of his discovery. 

In 1595, Philip the Second ordered a complete exploration of 
the north-west coast, to determine its exact position relative to 
the Spanish settlements in New Mexico intersected by the Bravo 
del A^'orte, and extending to the fortieth degree of latitude. 

Accordingly, in the spring of 1596, Count de Monterey, Vice- 
roy of Mexico, sent three vessels from Acapulco, under the com- 
mand of Sebastian Vizcaino, who, we have already seen, was one 
of the officers of the Santa Anna, destroyed by Cavendish at Cape 
San Lucas. 

This voyage was confined to attempts to form establishments 
at St. Sebastian, and at La Paz or Santa Cruz. Cortes, sixty 
years before, had himself wished to found such establishments, 
but had failed in his endeavors, as much because of the sterility 
of the soil, as on account of the ferocity of the natives. 

Philip the Third, having succeeded to the throne in 1598, im- 
mediately sought to carry out the plan of his predecessor. He 
ordered the Viceroy of Mexico to equip a small squadron, that it 
might continue the reconnoissance that had already been com- 
menced. 

Sebastian Vizcaino took command of this new armament, com- 
posed of three vessels. He sailed, on the 5th of May, 1602, from 
Acapulco, accompanied by Toribio, Gomez de Corvan, and Mar- 
tin de Aguilar. This little squadron anchored at San Jose, to 



240 AMERICAN POWER. 

the east of Cape San Lucas; resumed its voyage of exploration 
on the 2d of July ; entered the Bay of the Madeleine, between the 
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth degrees of latitude; visited a port 
on Cedar Island ; another in 31° north latitude, to which the name 
of Port San Quintin was given, and farther to the north San 
Miguel, discovered by Cabrillo, the name of which was then 
chanofed to San Diesro. 

After having thoroughly examined this port, the flotilla sailed 
through the archipelago of Santa Barbara, visited by Cabrillo 
sixty years before ; doubled the Cape Galern of that navigator, 
since known as Cape Conception ; and anchored in the Port des 
Pines of Cabrillo, but to which the name of Monterey has been 
o-iven in honor of the viceroy of that name. 

In January, 1603, Vizcaino had proceeded as far as the forty- 
second degree of north latitude, and discovered a cape which he 
named San Sebastian ; but his crew having been considerably 
reduced by sickness, he consented to return to Mexico, and ar- 
rived at Acapulco in March. 

The vessel commanded by Martin de Aguilar continued its 
voyage of discovery alone. He recognized Cape Blanc in lati- 
tude 43°, and thought he had discovered the mouth of a large 
river, which the strength of the current prevented him from en- 
tering. This vessel returned to Mexico after the loss of the 
commander Aguilar, the pilot Flores, and the greater part of the 
crew. 

Vizcaino, after having returned from his expedition, obtained 
permission from Philip the Third to found trading establishments 
at the points he had examined ; but he died before he could 
accomplish his projects. 

At the period of Vizcaino's expedition, the Spanish government 
was very much interested in the discoveries made in the Pacific. 
Several expeditions were sent out; and in one of them, under- 
taken in 1595 by Alvaro de Mendona du Pesu, the Marquesas 
group of islands was discovered. It received this name in con- 
sequence of the beauty of its females. In 1605, Pedro Fernandez 
de Quiros performed another voyage from Mexico, and visited 
other islands in those seas, namely : Otaheite and Owyhee. He 
also believed that he had discovered another southern continent, 
which he named Australie del Espiritu Santo. 

For one hundred and fifty years after that period, the Spaniards 



LEMAIRE AND VAN SCHOUTEN. 241 

seemed to manifest no further desire to found new settlements on 
the western coast of California, or to increase their possessions on 
the Continent. 

In 1608, Henry Hudson, in a voyage in search of a passage 
to the north-west of America, discovered the strait which now 
bears his name. Eight years subsequently, William Baffin no- 
ticed the same strait. 

In 1608, John Wright visited the coast of America in the fifty- 
sixth degree of latitude, near Cape Grimugt, on the coast of La- 
brador, and perished in the enterprise. 

In 1612, Nelson River was discovered by Button and James 
Hall. 

In 1616, William Baffin discovered the bay which has since 
borne his name. 

But, without contradiction, one of the most important discove- 
ries of this period was that of the possibility of sailing around the 
southern extremity of the New World, accomplished by Lemaire 
and Van Schouten, two celebrated Dutch navigators, in 1616, who 
passed from one ocean to the other by doubling Cape Horn, thus 
named in honor of their native city. This discovery rendered the 
voyage into Oceanica much less difficult. 

From the period of this discovery, Dutch privateers frequently 
visited the north-west coast of America, and established their 
cruizing-ground along the coast of California, whence they inter- 
cepted the Spanish East India traders. 

This condition of things again drew the attention of the Span- 
iards towards the north-west coast of America. To protect their 
trade and to destroy these pirates, they formed settlements on the 
eastern coast of the Gulf of California, and, for this purpose, sent 
out various expeditions, from 1631 to 1667, under the command 
of Vicuna and Ortega; Barriga and Portes; Pinadero, and, lastly, 
Lucenilla and Arondo. 

As far as relates to the colonization of California, these expe- 
ditions were without any result. It was reserved for the per- 
severing and intelligent spirit of the Jesuits to overcome all the 
difficulties which the hostile nature of the natives and the sterility 
of the soil presented. 

As far back as the year 1643, two Dutch navigators, Martin 
Geritzin de Vries and Hendrick Shaep, had explored the coast of 
Japan up to latitude 48° north, and entered the Gulf of Ochotsk 
16 



242 AMERICAN POWER. 

between the main land on the west and the Kamtschatka and 
Kurile Islands on the east. 

In 1673, Thomas Peche, an English corsair, while in search 
of the famous Straits of Anian, visited the same coast and the 
same gulf, which then bore, on some charts, the name of Straits 
of Vries or Anian. 

Hudson's and Baffin's discoveries on the north-west coast of 
America renewed the hope of finding a north-west passage; and 
for this object a company, under the immediate protection of 
Prince Rupert, was formed in England. Charles the Second, in 
1669, granted to an association called Company of English Com- 
mercial Adventurers in Hudson'' s Bay, the exclusive rights of trade 
and property to all the lands watered by Hudson's Bay and its 
tributaries. 

This royal concession, which gave birth to the celebrated Hud- 
son's Bay Company, was made in favor of those courtiers who 
were seized with a desire for speculation. It gave to the company 
exclusive possession of the seas, bays, straits, lakes, and rivers, 
and all the lands adjacent to Hudson's Bay. This enormous 
monopoly insured the prosperity of the company, and greatly con- 
tributed to the consolidation of its authority and power in those 
countries. 

The charter of this company compelled it to pursue the dis- 
covery, so ardently desired, of a north-west passage. The same 
obligation was also imposed on vessels engaged in the whale 
fisheries. 

The Jesuits, having at length obtained permission from the 
crown of Spain to establish themselves in California, by founding 
settlements there in the name of the King of Spain, began that 
immense work in 1697. Father Salvatierra assumed the direction 
of this important mission. He was followed by Fathers Kuhu (a 
German), Piccolo Egeste, and other associates, as zealous as they 
were learned and devoted to the cause of civilization among the 
natives of the New World. The settlement of Loreto was 
founded on the eastern shore of the peninsula; shortly after. La 
Paz, Santa Cruz, and San Jose, near Cape San Lucas. In a few 
years, sixteen missions were created, which formed, as it were, a 
chain of posts, by means of which the authority of the Jesuits, 
and the influence of the Roman religion, were extended over 
California. But having been driven, in 1767, from the states of 



VITUS BEHRING. 243 

Spain by the decree of Charles the Third, issued at the solicitation 
of the celebrated Count Aranda, the Jesuits were also expelled 
from California by Don Gaspar de Portola ; and the fruits of their 
long and toilsome labors were thus lost to civilization. 

As early as 1711, the Russians were complete masters of all 
the north of Asia, where the fur trade yielded them immense pro- 
fits. They had examined the northern coast of Asia for a con- 
siderable distance to the eastward, and had formed settlements 
on the peninsula of Kamtschatka. But they had not yet ascer- 
tained whether or not the continent of Asia was united to that of 
America. 

In 1728, Vitus Behring, a Dane, and a very able navigator, 
was employed by the Empress Catharine to make a voyage of 
discovery. He sailed in a small vessel that had been built at 
the mouth of the Kamtschatka River, and was accompanied by 
Alexei Tchisikof, a Russian, and Martin Spangbug, a German. 
He examined the whole coast up to 67° 18' north latitude, the 
north-eastern extremity of the Asiatic continent, and returned to 
the port of Kamtschatka. The following year he attempted to 
discover the coasts of the American continent; but, prevented by 
head winds, he put into the Gulf of Ochotsk. 

In 1732, Krupischef made a voyage in which he examined the 
position of the American coast. 

In 1741, Behring commanded another expedition, composed of 
two vessels, the St. Pierre and St. Paul. He was accompanied 
by Tchisikof, in charge of the St. Paul. He discovered the coast 
of the American continent at the sixtieth degree of north latitude, 
on St. Elias^ day, and named the promontory formed by the land 
in honor of this saint, by which name all subsequent navigators 
on this coast have since designated it. 

The Russians observed the peninsula of Aliaska, the Island 
of Kodiak, landed on one of the islands of the Schumagin group, 
passed the Aleutian archipelago, which extends, to the west of 
Aliaska, as far as the fifty-third degree of latitude, and wintered 
on an island in latitude 55°, where Behring died, on the 8th of 
December, 1741. In 1742, the survivors of the crew, having 
built a frail vessel from the wreck of their ship, returned to the 
port of Avatscha. 

Tchisikof also discovered the American continent, and, with his 
celebrated companion, thus assisted to extend hydrographical and 



244 AMERICAN POWER. 

geographical information with respect to that portion of the Ame- 
rican continent, as well as with respect to the relative position of 
the coasts of Asia and America. 

These expeditions and consequent discoveries awakened the 
attention of France, England, and Spain, and stimulated their 
governments to fresh enterprises, several of which were principally 
directed to the discovery of a north-west passage. 

A short time after the peace of 1763, colonies were planted by 
France and England on the sterile and desolate Islands of Falk- 
land, in Oceanica, near the entrance to the Straits of Magellan; 
but, on the representations of the Spanish government, the French 
consented to recall their colonists. The English government took 
no heed of the claims of the Spanish government, and continued 
to maintain its settlements. Towards the year 1770, however, 
Don Francisco Bucareli succeeded in driving the English from 
their establishment at Fort Egmont. 

In 1766, Lieutenant Synd, of the imperial navy of Russia, by 
order of the Empress Catharine, made a voyage to the north of 
the coast of Kamtschatka. He advanced as far as the sixty-sixth 
degree of latitude, and examined the American continent the fol- 
lowing year, where he debarked. 

Captains Krenitzin and Levaschef, in 1769, determined the 
geographical position of several points of the chain of the Aleu- 
tian Islands. 

It is a curious fact, in the annals of voyages at that time, that 
the first direct voyage by sea between the new discoveries in the 
north Pacific Ocean and China, in the prosecution of the fur trade, 
w^as undertaken and accomplished by the Poles, under their na- 
tional colors. These had been exiled to Kamtschatka. 

The attention of the Americans, about the same period, was also 
directed to the exploration of the western countries by land ; and, 
after the peace of 1763, they no longer confined themselves to 
visiting the regions simply beyond the Alleghany Mountains, but 
advanced towards the west, and attempted other discoveries to 
the north-west. 

Captain Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, was one of the first 
to undertake a journey in that direction. He left Boston in 1766, 
explored Lake Michigan and Green Bay, crossed Fox River {des 
Renards) at Wisconsin, sailed to the Upper Mississippi, where he 
examined the mouth of the St. Croix, and returned to that of the 



PORTOLA AND RIVERA. 245 

St. Pierre, which he ascended to the heart of the country of the 
Naudauraessis. Carver also made a similar exploration along 
the left shore of the Mississippi. He entered Chippewa River, 
and traversed a country which the Indians of the north-west were 
in the habit of visiting, from whom he received information of the 
existence of a large river, called the Oregon or Origon (river of 
the west), said by the Indians to empty into the Pacific Ocean, 
near the pretended Anian Strait, and to take its rise in the chain 
of the Rocky Mountains. 

The celebrated Captain Cook made his first voyage to the 
South Sea in 1768. His object was the determination of astro- 
nomical observations relative to the passage of Venus over the 
sun's disk in 1769. 

Captain Bougainville made a voyage of discovery to the South 
Sea in 1767, and returned to France in 1769. 

Immediately after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Mexico in 
1767, the Viceroy de Croix, and the visitador Galvez, devoted 
their attention to the foundation of colonies and garrisons on the 
west coast of California. It was ordered that the first troops should 
be sent to Port San Diego, or Port Monterey, which had been 
previously settled by Vizcaino. Consequently, a few colonists 
and soldiers were called together at La Paz, on the west coast of 
California, and, in the spring of 1769, marched towards San 
Diego, in two parties, one commanded by Gaspar de Portola, and 
the other by Fernando de Rivera. 

Rivera arrived at San Diego, with his party, on the 11th of 
May, 1769, where he found two vessels that had anticipated him 
by several days. Portola took a more difficult route, and did not 
rejoin his companions till after the lapse of two months. The 
choice of a site having been made on the Bay of San Diego, Por- 
tola advanced with his party towards Monterey; but, missing his 
way, he was obliged to retrace his steps to San Diego, in con- 
sequence of scarcity of provisions, and the advanced state of the 
season, the vessel that was to have carried provisions to Monterey 
never having been seen. 

The colonists of San Diego experienced great suffering, as well 
for want of provisions as on account of the hostility of the natives ; 
but supplies having at length arrived in March, 1770, Portola 
continued his expedition to Monterey, where he succeeded in 
founding a settlement. Fresh colonists, sent from Mexico, settled 



246 AMERICAN POWER. 

at various points between San Diego and Monterey, soon provided 
abundant means of subsistence, so that, before 1771, the settlers 
of Upper California were enabled to buffet all the casualties of 
their position. 

From 1769 to 1772, Samuel Hearne, agent of the Hudson's 
Bay Company, starting from Fort Prince of Wales, the principal 
station of the company on the western shore of Hudson's Bay, in 
nearly the sixtieth degree of latitude, performed three journeys 
across the countries of the west and north-west, a distance of 
nearly a thousand miles. In his last journey, Hearne discovered 
the Great Slave Lake, and other lakes in the direction of the north- 
west. He also followed the course of a stream which has since 
been called the Coppermine River, and examined its mouth, which 
he judged to be in latitude 72° north, and in longitude 20° west 
of the last post of the Hudson's Bay Company. He supposed 
that this river emptied into a kind of inferior bay, similar to that 
of Hudson. 

Captain Cook made his second voyage to the South Sea in 
1772. His object was to ascertain the existence of the southern 
continent, to which the attention of most of the maritime powers 
was then drawn. 

From 1771 to 1779, the Spanish government made strenuous 
efforts to found permanent settlements in California. For this 
purpose, the assistance of the Franciscans was invoked, who de- 
voted themselves with perseverance and disinterestedness to the 
pious work of converting the natives to Christianity. Farms were 
established, and cultivated by Indians engaged for a period often 
years, who were subjected to an equitable, though not severe, 
discipline. 

In 1775, the Franciscans Font and Gazzes traveled from Mexico 
to the mission of San Gabriel, in California, on the Rio Colorado. 
In the same year, Dominguez and Escalonte, belonging to the 
same order, attempted to penetrate from Santa Fe, in New Mexico, 
to the shores of the Pacific Ocean ; but they soon retraced their 
steps. 

In 1774, Perez sailed from San Bias, with orders from Bucareli, 
then Viceroy of Mexico, to reconnoitre the north-west coast. He 
first visited San Diego, then Monterey, and, on the 18th of July, 
landed on the coast in latitude 54°: this point he named Cape 
Ste. Marguerite. The snow-covered mountains were in sight, and 



HECETA AND BODEGA. 247 

were called Sierra de San Cristoval. A few Indians approached 
the Spaniards in their canoes, and made some exchanges for otter 
skins. 

The land observed in this voyage was the western coast of the 
island now known as Queen Charlotte's Island, and Cape Ste. 
Marguerite, the extreme north-west point, marked on the English 
charts as North Cape, at the entrance of the channel or pass of 
Dixon. 

On the 9th of August, Perez anchored in a wide bay in lati- 
tude 49° 30', and established a communication with the natives. 
He named this bay Port San Lorenzo, the same afterwards desig- 
nated by Captain Cook as King George's Strait, or Nootka Strait. 

Continuing his voyage to the south-west, Perez discovered, in 
latitude 47° 47', a high mountain covered with snow, which he 
named Sierra de Santa Rosalia. This corresponds with the Mount 
Olympus of the English charts. 

On the return of Perez to Mexico, Bucareli ordered a new 
exploring expedition, of which he gave the command to Captain 
Bruno Heceta, under whose orders Perez was again to go to sea, 
as well as Juan de Ayala and Antonio Morelli. 

This expedition, composed of two vessels, sailed from San Bias, 
on the 15th of March, 1775, in company with the schooner San 
Carlos, bound to Monterey. The commander of this schooner, 
having become delirious, was succeeded by Ayala. Juan Fran- 
cisco de la Bodega y Quadra assumed the command of the schooner 
La Sonora. 

Having passed the San Carlos, the two vessels of the expedition 
steered a westerly course, and, on the 10th of June, anchored in 
a bay beyond Cape Mendocin, in latitude 41°. This bay received 
the name of Port de la Trinite. 

Heceta and Bodega continiied their voyage on the 19th of June. 
They lost sight of land for three weeks; but again perceived it in 
latitude 48° 27'. Wishing to reconnoitre the coast, they sent a 
boat with seven men on shore, who were all murdered by the 
natives. 

Having resumed their course, the two vessels were separated 
by a violent storm. Heceta returned to Monterey, while Bodega 
pursued his voyage of discovery. 

On his return voyage, Heceta landed in latitude 50°, on the 
south side of the Island of Vancouver and Quadra, and, passing 



248 AMERICAN POWER. 

through the port of San Lorenzo, (Nootka Strait,) discovered the 
previous year by Perez, he arrived in sight of the main land, in 
latitude 48°, without having observed the Straits of Fuca. Run- 
ning a southerly course, he arrived, on the 15th of August, 1775, 
in front of an outlet, whence flowed a current so rapid that he 
could not enter it. He mistook this outlet for the entrance of the 
Straits of Fuca, of which he was in search. He remained in 
these waters for the purpose of making more minute observations; 
but, unable to overcome the strength of the current, which carried 
him along with it, he determined to continue his voyage. 

Heceta named this entrance the Debouche de VAssomption 
(outlet of the Assumption), and the two points forming its en- 
trance, Cape St. Roch and Cape des Feuilles. The charts pub- 
lished in Mexico at that period bear the names Debouche d'' Heceta, 
and River St. Roch. This outlet was the mouth of the Columbia 
or Oregon River, which Robert Gray entered in 1792. 

In the mean while, Bodega and Morelli were laboriously pur- 
suing their voyage to the north-west, and had at length reached, 
in latitude 56°, King George's archipelago, Mount Edgecombe, 
the Bay of Islands, and the Straits of Norfolk, according to Eng- 
lish navigators, but to which they respectively gave the names of 
Port Remedies, Port Guadaloupe, and Mount San Jacinto. 

The Spaniards landed in Port Remedies, and took possession 
of the country in the name of their sovereign, according to the 
usual formalities; but they were attacked by the natives, who 
forced them to re-embark. They then determined to return to 
Monterey. In latitude 55° 35', they entered a harbor which they 
named Port Bucareli; this port is on Prince of Wales Island. 
They afterwards reached the north-eastern extremity of Queen 
Charlotte's Island, which Perez named Cape San Marguerite, and 
examined the channel which separates this island from Prince of 
Wales Island, which they named Entrado de Perez, afterwards 
named by the English Dixon''s Channel. They successively 
examined several points on the coast ; passed Cape Mendocin ; 
entered a small harbor in latitude 38°, to which Bodega gave his 
own name, and at length reached San Bias, on the 20th of No- 
vember, 1775. 

From the foregoing details, it is clear, even omitting the voyage 
of Perez, that the Spaniards, so far back as 1775, had reconnoitered 
and examined with care the whole west coast of the American 



CAPTAIN COOK. 249 

continent, from Monterey, in latitude 37°, to latitude 48° north, 
and had determined the general direction of the west coast of the 
islands which line the continent between the forty-eighth and 
fifty-eighth degrees of north latitude. 

The third voyage of Captain Cook was performed in 1776. 
His object was to discover a passage either to the north-west or 
north-east. He sailed from Plymouth, on the 12th of July, 1776, 
on board of the ship Resolution, accompanied by Captain Charles 
Clarke in command of the Discovery, furnished with all the in- 
struments required for such a voyage. He displayed great skill 
on this occasion, and exhibited a spirit of enterprise and perse- 
verance which has justly entitled him to great celebrity among 
the navigators to whom geographical science owes many of its 
important discoveries. 

Captain Cook's instructions from the board of admiralty expli- 
citly prove that the only object of his voyage was the discovery of 
a more direct route to India than that by the Cape of Good Hope 
or Cape Horn, through a supposed passage uniting the two oceans, 
and not the foundation of new settlements in Oregon. His instruc- 
tions, in fact, were very precise : That he should sail as directly 
as possible for the coast of J^ew Jllbion, which he was to make in 
latitude 45°, without deviating from his course with the object of 
discovering new lands, or putting into any of the Spanish ports; 
that he should anchor in any one of the ports of New Albion that 
might be most convenient in his route in order to procure re- 
freshments; that he should then continue his voyage to the sixty- 
fifth degree of latitude, or even farther north if not prevented by 
land or ice ; but, above all, that he should not lose time in recon- 
noitering or exploring any river, bay, harbor, or inlet, until after 
his destination should have been reached, which he was enjoined, 
if possible, to arrive at in June, so that he might have full time 
to examine the rivers, bays, or inlets, which, from their dimen- 
sions, might appear of sufficient importance to be considered as 
means of communication between Hudson's and Baffin's Bays. 

The orders of Captain Cook ended by an injunction to take 
possession, in the name of Great Britain, of the country he might 
discover in this inlet, provided that it should be uninhabited, or 
that it had not previously been discovered or visited. 

We must also remark that the name of JYew Albion, cited in 
these instructions, is used merely to designate that part of the 



250 AMERICAN POWER. 

west coast of America towards which the expedition was to shape 
its course, and not to imply the property claimed by Great Britain. 

Cook arrived in the Pacific Ocean by the South Sea and the 
Cape of Good Hope. He spent nearly one year in examining 
Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, the Friendly and Society 
Islands, and other places in those latitudes. In the early part of 
1778, he directed his course northward, and, on the l8th of Jan- 
uary, made his first discovery, the Island of Atooi or Kanoi, in 
the twentieth degree of latitude. This was one of a group which 
he named the Sandwich Islands, in honor of the first lord of the 
admiralty. 

On the 17th of March, 1778, he reached the north-west coast, 
in latitude 44° 10'. Driven to the south-west by head winds, he 
had an opportunity of more carefully examining several parts of 
these shores that had already been visited by the Spaniards. 

The winds became fair. He then shaped his course towards 
the north-west, and recognized Nootka Sound, which had already 
been explored, in 1774, by Juan Perez, who gave it the name of 
San Lorenzo. Cook anchored in one of the ports, so abundant in 
this sound; visited the natives, who were represented as canni- 
bals; and found among them several iron instruments, two silver 
spoons, and a few copper articles, clearly proving prior intercourse 
between these natives and Europeans. He changed the name of 
this sound to that of King George's Straits. 

Having again put to sea, he sailed as far north as latitude 55°, 
where he observed the highlands seen by Bodega in 1775, and 
named by hixn' Mount San Jacinto. Cook gave them the name of 
Mount Edgecombe. Port Remedios, of the Spaniards, he changed 
to the Bay of Islands. 

He then pursued his course to latitude 57°, recognized Mount 
Fairweather, the Mount St. Elias described by Behring, and from 
this point commenced his search for a north-west passage. He 
visited the Shumagin Islands of Behring, and Unalashka Island 
in the Aleutian cluster; reached land in latitude 65° 46', which 
he named Cape Prince of Wales; then sailed westward, and re- 
cognized Cape Tchuquetehoi, the eastern extremity of Behring's 
Straits. Having advanced, beyond this sea, to the north, he 
reached the American coast in latitude 70° 20', and the coast of 
Asia in latitude QS° 56'. 

Having been checked by the ice in his course northward, he 



THE NORTH-WEST COAST AND TERRITORY. 251 

determined, in consequence of the advanced state of the season, 
to return to a more southern latitude. He re-entered Behring's 
Straits, and, on the 3d of October, anchored in the harbor of 
Samagaouda, on the north side of Unalashka. 

He left Unalashka on the 27th of October, and in November 
discovered the Owyhee and Momee Islands (Hawaii and Manai), 
the two largest of the Sandwich Islands. Here, on the 16th of 
February, 1779, this brave and generous navigator was murdered 
by the natives. 

We must here observe that the voyages of Captain Cook gave 
to England no basis for any new claims to any portion of the 
American continent; for the places he saw, to the south of Mount 
Edgecombe, had already been seen and examined by Perez, Bo- 
dega, and Heceta, as we have shown. The lands he recognized 
to the north had been designated by Russian navigators. 

Nevertheless, Captain Cook incontestably deserves the credit of 
having laid down, w'ith more correctness than any of his prede- 
cessors, the relative positions of the north-east and north-west 
coasts of the continents of Asia and America, as well as the pre- 
cise configuration of their shores. 

Before proceeding any farther with our summary, let us en- 
deavor to ascertain what, at the period of which we speak, was 
the respective state of parties claiming titles to property on the 
north-west coast and its dependent territory. 

France, as we have already had occasion several times to 
observe in the course of this historical summary, had taken pos- 
session of the St. Lawrence and of the Mississippi. She therefore 
extended her dominion over the vast territory watered by these 
two rivers, including the chain of lakes, having to the east only 
the Anglo-American provinces of the Atlantic, and then indefi- 
nitely extending towards the Pacific Ocean and the Spanish pos- 
sessions. 

England was, at that period, in possession of all the territory 
on the Atlantic coast, from the St. Lawrence to Florida. She 
also extended her pretensions indefinitely to the west, in conflict 
with the rights of France. She had also established herself in 
Hudson's Bay, asserting claims to the territory in the interior as 
far as the Pacific Ocean. 

Spain, mistress of Mexico, California, New Mexico, and Florida, 
extended her claim of sovereignty over all the territory lying be- 



252 AMERICAN POWER. 

tween the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and Cape Florida on the 
Atlantic. 

Such was the position of parties in 1783, when the Treaty of 
Paris, of the 3d September, usually known as the Treaty of Peace ^ 
introduced great modifications in their respective relations. 

England then acknowledged the liberty, sovereignty, and inde- 
pendence of the United States. By this solemn act, she renounced 
all rights of sovereignty over the territory occupied by the Ame- 
rican Union, as well as that dependent upon it. She thus virtually 
created the first title of the Americans to the possession of the 
western territories. 

But let us here remark a significant act, showing the duplicity 
England has ever exhibited in her international relations. At 
the very moment she had renounced, by a solemn act, all title to 
the possession of the western territories dependent on the United 
States, she authorized, by legislative sanction, the creation of a 
new association at Montreal, under the name of the North- West 
Company, the object of which was to carry on the fur trade in 
these very districts: thus concealing, under the mask of the com- 
mercial operations of a company, any hostile intentions that she 
might be ready to back at a future period, should her interests 
require it, by force. 

From that time, there were two powerful rival companies in the 
fur trade in America; but their operations were confined to dis- 
tinct territories. For a time, the competition between them was 
exceedingly brisk ; so much so as often to produce between the 
agents of the companies desperate contests. This state of things 
was disastrous to the interests of the Americans, whose frontier 
posts frequently became the theatre of violent and bloody scenes 
on the part of the Indians craftily excited against them. This 
hostility may be attributed as much to the jealousy and cupidity 
of these two companies, as to the hatred of England towards the 
United States. 

The results of Captain Cook's voyage were published in 1781. 
At that period, the commerce of the Pacific was shared by two 
English companies — the South Sea and the East India Companies. 
The vessels of the former were permitted to enter the Pacific, on 
their fur trade or fishing expeditions, only through the Straits of 
Magellan or around Cape Horn ; those of the latter were to reach 
the same destination by the Cape of Good Hope. All other ves- 



KING GEORGE'S STRAITS COMPANY. 253 

sels were excluded from these seas for either of these objects. 
The consequence was that a number of English subjects, anxious 
to engage in this trade, on account of the great demand for furs, 
and the heavy profits realized from them, were obliged to sail 
under foreign colors; in fact, to denationalize themselves. 

Among the first English adventurers who, under foreign colors, 
traded in the Pacific, was James Hanna. In 1785, he visited 
Nootka Sound, under the Portuguese flag. His trade with the 
natives was very profitable; but a second voyage, in 1786, re- 
sulted less advantageously. 

In the course of this year, several attempts were made to esta- 
blish a direct trade between Macao and Kamtschatka; but they 
all failed. 

Captains Lowrie and Guire made several voyages to the western 
coast of Bombay, and Meares and Tippling to that of Calcutta, 
under the flag of the East India Company. 

Before recording the result of Meares' voyage, we shall call to 
mind the expedition of our unfortunate fellow-citizen Jean-Fran- 
fois Garaup de Lapeyrouse, which took place in 1785. In June, 

1786, he visited Mount St. Elias, and the American coast between 
latitudes 50° and 54°. Arriving at Monterey, he made a number 
of scientific observations; and, on the 24th of September of that 
year, he left that port never again to see land. 

Captain Meares wintered in the Gulf of Nootka from 1786 to 

1787. He obtained permission from the chief of the tribe that 
inhabited the coast to erect a few huts to shelter his men, and 
several store-houses to deposit his merchandise. During the 
winter, he lost one-half of his men by scurvy. 

On the west coast, the principal places resorted to for the fur 
trade, at this period, were King George's Straits or Nootka Sound, 
the Straits of Norfolk, the port of Guadaloupe, near Mount San 
Jacinto, Prince William's Straits, and Cook River. 

In 1785, a new company, having been formed in London, 
under the name of King George's Straits Company, sent an ex- 
pedition, under the command of Captains Portlock and Dixon, to 
trade exclusively between the north-west coast and China. 

In 1786, the ships of this company visited Nootka Sound; but 
the season being far advanced, they were compelled to winter at 
the Sandwich Islands. 

In 1787, they visited Cook's River and Prince William's Straits. 



254 AMERICAN POWER. 

Here they found Captain Meares, whose vessel had been locked 
up in the ice, and whose crew was reduced to one-half of its 
original number by sickness. 

Captain Dixon then continued his voyage alone to the eastward 
of Mount Jacinto or Edgecombe, the Port Remedios of Bodega. 
He changed this name to that of Norfolk Straits, notwithstanding 
a narrative of Bodega's voyage, published in England in 1781, 
was known to him. He also claimed, with equal shameless- 
ness, the discovery of the west coast of America to the south of 
the fifty-fourth degree of latitude, urging that Captain Cook had 
not himself seen it, though this celebrated navigator had awarded 
to the Spaniards the credit of its discovery. 

Captain Dixon, having learned from the natives that the place 
at which he had landed was detached from the main land by an 
arm of the sea, gave it the name of Queen Charlotte's Island, and 
distinguished the northern entrance to the interior strait as Dixon 
Canal. 

Captain Duncan, sent out by the same company in 1787, visited 
Prince of Wales Strait, sailed through every part of it, and dis- 
covered a considerable number of islands, which he named the 
Prince Royal Archipelago. 

In the same year. Captain Berkeley, commanding a ship in the 
Austrian East India Company's service, anchored in the strait 
previously discovered by Juan de Fuca. 

In 1788, the Portuguese, who were actively engaged in the fur 
trade between the north-west coast and China, sent two vessels 
to Macao under their own flag; but these were commanded by 
two English officers, John Meares and William Douglas, who 
had acquired some reputation in former voyages on the same 
coast. 

These two navigators, from the fact of their bearing Portuguese 
commissions, and sailing under the Portuguese flag, had lost their 
nationality as citizens of Great Britain. Hence, during this period, 
all their official acts, in relation to their legal consequences, be- 
longed to the crown of Portugal. 

Douglas visited Cook River. Meares sailed directly for Nootka 
Sound, where his crew immediately commenced to build a small 
vessel suitable for trading with the natives along the coast. De- 
sirous of profiting by this delay, to reconnoitre the southern shores, 
Meares effected an arrangement with one of the chiefs of the bor- 



CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY. 255 

dering tribes, and obtained permission to build a house for the 
use of the men he expected to leave behind him. 

Meares, on his return, rejoined Douglas, and found his small 
vessel completed. He gave it the name of the JYorth-West Ame- 
rica. He returned to China with a cargo of furs, and left orders 
for the two remaining vessels to repair to the Sandwich Islands 
during the winter, and to return to Nootka Straits in the spring. 

At this period, the Americans directed their attention to the 
rich trade thus carried on between the north-west coast and China. 
The city of Boston, always distinguished for its spirit of enterprise, 
fitted out a trading expedition, of which Joseph Barrell, Samuel 
Brown, Charles Bulfinch, John Darby, Growell Hatch, and John 
M. Pintard were the principal owners. This expedition, com- 
posed of two vessels, the ship Columbia, with a crew of two 
hundred and twenty men. Captain John Kendrick, and the sloop 
Lady Washington, of ninety tons, Captain Robert Gray, sailed on 
the 1st of October, 1787. 

The Lady Washington first touched the north-west coast in 
latitude 46° in August, 1788. It came very near being lost on 
the breakers at the mouth of a river which Gray attempted to 
enter. At this point, he was attacked by the natives, in which 
contest one of his men was killed, and another wounded. Shap- 
ing his course to the south-west, he arrived, on the 17th of Sep- 
tember, in Nootka Straits, where, after a few days, the Columbia 
joined him. 

Meares, in obedience to the orders he had received, left this 
harbor, to winter at the Sandwich Islands, after the arrival of 
these two American vessels. 

In the mean while, the Spanish government, at length discover- 
ing the importance which this trade had acquired, began to take 
umbrage at the various attempts of other nations to settle on this 
coast, despite the precedence of title to it which Spain enjoyed, 
and, in 1788, sent two vessels from San Bias, under the respective 
orders of Estevan Martinez, who had been a pilot of Juan Perez 
in 1774, and Gonzalo Haro. These vessels, on the 25th of May, 
1788, anchored in the waters of Prince William's Straits. Haro 
visited the Russian establishments of Codiak; and Martinez ex- 
plored Prince William's Straits. They then sailed in company 
along the eastern coast of the first harbor of Alieska as far as 



256 AMERICAN POWER. 

Unalashka, the largest of the Aleutian Islands, and returned to 
the port of San Bias. 

In May, 1789, Martinez, in the name of the crown of Spain, 
took possession of Nootka Straits, as well as of some vessels he 
found there, trading with the natives. He hauled down the Eng- 
lish flag, and hoisted that of Spain. He thus maintained the 
supremacy of the rights of his Catholic majesty along the whole 
Pacific coast of America, from Cape Horn to the sixtieth degree 
of north latitude. 

He at length returned to Mexico with his three prizes, the 
Jirgonaut^ the Princess Royal, and the JYorth-West America, then 
under the orders of Viana and Douglas. 

This authoritative procedure took place in the Bay of Nootka, 
in presence of the American vessels Columbia and Lady Wash- 
ington, whose officers were well treated by the Spanish com- 
manders. 

This circumstance created great difficulties between the Span- 
ish and English governments, which were settled only by the 
convention concluded in 1790, called the JYootka Convention. 
By this convention, Spain agreed to restore all the property that 
had been wrested from the English, and to pay, in addition, an 
indemnity of a million francs (two hundred thousand dollars). 

The following are the principal articles of the treaty: — 

It was covenanted, by the first and second articles, that the 
buildings and lands on the north-west coast of America, of which 
English subjects had been dispossessed by a Spanish officer in 
the month of April, 1789, should be restored; that, besides, equi- 
table reparation should be made for all acts of violence or hostility 
committed by citizens of either country against the citizens of the 
other subsequent to the month of April, 1789 ; and that, should the 
subjects of the parties in question have been, since that period, 
forcibly dispossessed of their lands, ships, or other property on 
the American coast, they should be reinstated in all their rights, 
and receive a just indemnity for their losses. 

The third article stipulated that, for the future, the subjects of 
neither country should be molested in their navigation, whether 
with the object of fishing in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, or 
of landing on the unoccupied shores for the purpose of founding 
settlements or trading with the natives. 

The two governments appointed commissioners to proceed to 



VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST. 257 

Nootka harbor, with instructions to determine the amount of in- 
demnity to be allowed, and the extent of property to be restored, 
to English subjects. 

The commissioner appointed by the English government was 
Captain Vancouver, who received special orders from the board 
of admiralty to examine the whole American coast from the thirty- 
fifth to the sixtieth degree of north latitude; to ascertain the num- 
ber of establishments already formed on that coast by European 
nations; and, lastly, to endeavor to discover whether a navigable 
northern passage existed between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

The Spanish government invested Quadra with full powers to 
settle the question at issue between England and Spain. 

In the meanwhile, Captain Metcalf, an American from New 
York, accompanied by his tw'o sons, visited this coast. He sailed 
with two vessels, one of which, a small schooner, the Fair Ame- 
ricaiiy he had purchased in Canton. This schooner was seized iu 
Nootka Sound by the Spanish commander Martinez; but it was 
soon after restored to the owner. The destruction of the whole 
crew of the Fair Jlmerican by the natives of Kawaihas, one of 
the Sandwich Islands, induced Metcalf to return to the United 
States. 

About this period. Captain Billings made a voyage to the 
norlh-west coast on behalf of the Russians: Quimper and Alex- 
ander Malaspina on behalf of the Spaniards; and Captain Mar- 
chand, of Marseilles, in the employ of a French company. A 
great number of English and American vessels soon commenced 
a brisk trade in that quarter. Among the English, Captain Brown 
appears to have been the most distinguished for the usefid infor- 
mation he furnished relative to that coast to Captain Vancouver 
himself. 

The American expedition returned to Boston after a somewhat 
unfruitful voyage ; but its intelligent projectors, far from being 
discouraged at this result, determined to repair the Columbia, 
and again to dispatch it to the north-west coast, as well for the 
purpose of trade as of new attempts at discovery. 

Captain Gray again sailed in 1790. He was followed by 
Captain Joseph Ingraham, in a brig of seventy tons. Two other 
vessels, the Hancock, Captain Crosvel, and the Jefferso7i, Captain 
Roberts, made part of the expedition. Captain Magee, of the 
Margaret, sailed from New York the same year. 
17 



258 AMERICAN POWER. 

Ingraham, while sailing in the Pacific, discovered a group of 
islands, lying between the eighth and eighteenth degrees of lati- 
tude, to which he gave the names of Washington, Adams, Frank- 
lin, Knox, Federal, and Lincoln. 

Captain Gray arrived in the Pacific in the spring of 1791, and 
reconnoitered Cape Mendocino. He then directed his course 
along the coast towards Nootka Sound. In latitude 42°, he dis- 
covered what he supposed to be the mouth of a river, which he 
vainly endeavored to enter, in consequence of the force of the 
outward current. 

On the 15th of June, he anchored in the port of Clycquet, in 
Nootka Sound; examined the coast between the fifty-fourth and 
fifty-sixth degrees of latitude ; entered the strait, which he named 
Massachusetts Canal, for a distance of thirty miles; and then re- 
turned to Clycquet, where he passed the winter. At this place, 
he purchased land from the natives, erected Fort Defiance, and 
built the schooner Enterprise. 

In the same year. Captain Kendrick, an American, also pur- 
chased land from several Indian chiefs in Nootka Sound. In 
1793, the owners of the vessel he commanded made an unsuc- 
cessful attempt to sell this land in England. Captain Kendrick 
lost his life in one of the Sandwich Islands, and his vessel never 
returned to the United States. 

In the spring of 1792, Captain Gray again put to sea on board 
the Columbia. While cruising towards the south-west, his com- 
panion. Captain Harwell, in the schooner Adventure, directed his 
course towards Charlotte Island. On the 29th of April, Gray 
met Vancouver near the mouth of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, 
who had sailed from England in January, 1791, on board the 
Discovery, accompanied by Lieutenant R. Broughton, in the brig 
Chatham. He communicated to him the details of his discoveries 
on the coast, along which Vancouver had sailed without making 
any observations, and informed him that he had entered a strait 
in latitude 54° north, and had ascended it as high as latitude 56° 
without reaching its termination. 

Captain Gray, determined to ascertain the nature of the dis- 
coveries he had already made, sailed very close to the coast in a 
south-westerly direction. On the 7th of May, he again descried, 
towards the west, the same breakers he had observed in lati- 
tude 46° 58'. Assured that these indications of the mouth of 



CAPTAIN GRAY. 259 

a great river were real, he managed fortunately to effect an en- 
trance, and soon safely came to anchor. The bay he entered 
received the name of Bulfinch Harbor, in honor of one of the 
owners of the vessel he commanded. On tlie 11th of May, at 
half past seven o'clock, he crossed the bar of the great river of 
Oregon, which he called the Columbia^ the name of his vessel. 
Ascending this river a certain distance, he observed that it dis- 
charged an immense quantity of fresh water into the sea. He 
remained there until the 20th, during which time he effected 
several landin§^s*to ascertain the nature of the shores. 

To Captain Robert Gray, then, belongs the honor of the dis- 
covery of Oregon, and of having been the first to navigate its 
waters. To him also is due the honor of having fulfilled all the 
conditions necessary to establish the title of the Americans to the 
discovery and possession of the Columbia River. Captain Gray 
gave a name to this river, surveyed its entrance, and designated 
the northern point of its mouth Cape Hancock, named Cape Bis- 
appointment by Meares in 1788. To the southern point he gave 
the name of Cape Adams. 

Having effected this discovery. Gray sailed towards the eastern 
coast of Queen Charlotte's Island, where his vessel was much 
damaged by striking on a rock. He fortunately succeeded in 
reaching Nootka Sound, where Captain Ingraham arrived almost 
at the same time. Captain Gray officially communicated his dis- 
covery to the Spanish commandant Quadra, and in September, 
with Captain Ingraham, returned to the United States. 

Quadra, with the view of executing the commission that had 
been intrusted to him by the Spanish government, questioned 
Captain Gray relative to the transactions that had taken place, to 
his knowledge, between the English and the Indian chiefs con- 
cerning the acquisition of lands, and the right of the former to erect 
buildings in Nootka Sound. Captain Gray answered that he and 
his men had had frequent intercourse with the chief of the Indian 
tribe Maquinna for more than nine months ; but that he was not 
aware that the English had purchased lands from the Indians, 
and that the only building he had seen on his arrival was an 
Indian hut, which had been destroyed long before the arrival of 
the Spaniards. 

The Portuguese commander Vienna confirmed these state- 
ments. 



260 AMERICAN POWER. 

From this testimony, the Spanish commissioner thought himself 
able to maintain that the English had no right whatever to resti- 
tution of any kind. Consequently, as soon as Vancouver arrived 
in Nootka Sound, he made known to him the conclusion at which 
he had arrived. Nevertheless, to prove his desire to come to an 
amicable arrangement, he proposed, for the present, to cede to 
the English the lands on which Meares had settled in 1788, and 
to yield to them the buildings which had been erected by the 
Spaniards, and all the lands they had cultivated; and to await 
the decision of their respective governments witii regard to the 
claims of the English. 

Quadra could come to no understanding with Vancouver relative 
to the interpretation of Count Florida Blanca's letter. Vancouver 
maintained that England, from the very terms of the Spanish 
minister's orders, had the absolute right of dominion over all the 
territory watered by Nootka Sound. Quadra, on the contrary, 
maintained that England had no right to the restitution of any 
property, except the lands Meares had specially purchased from 
the natives, and the huts he had erected thereon. 

The two commissioners, therefore, separated without coming to 
any understanding. Nootka continued to be considered a Span- 
ish port; but England retained possession of it in fact! 

Upon information received from Captain Gray, Vancouver, in 
1792, sent Captain Broughton to examine the entrance of the 
great river which Gray had discovered. He examined Bulfinch 
Harbor, entered the Columbia, went on shore, and took possession 
of the territory in the name of his sovereign, as though the country 
had remained unknown until his arrival. He pretended, more- 
over, that Gray had mistaken a large bay for the mouth of this 
river, and therefore had not entered it. 

Vancouver pursued his course to the north-west, and entered 
the Straits of Fuca, which he thoroughly examined. He thus 
ascertained the correctness of the descriptions of the Greek pilot 
Juan de Fuca. This circumstance tended to perpetuate the name 
of this celebrated pilot as the designation of the southern entrance 
into this strait. 

Vancouver, nevertheless, named all the territory watered by 
the Straits of Juan de Fuca JVew Georgia. He took possession 
of all that portion of the American continent, and of the adjacent 
islands, in the name of his sovereign, all of which he named anew 



NORTH-WEST COMPANY. 261 

in commemoration of the royal family, the ministers, Parliament, 
and the army and navy of Great Britain. 

From the circumstantial details just related, it is, I think, in- 
contestably demonstrated that not one of the points on this coast, 
or on the adjacent islands, was ever occupied by the English 
anterior to the foundation by the Spaniards, in May, 1789, of the 
port in Nootka Sound. 

The ulterior abandonment of Nootka Sound by the Spaniards, 
in 1795, according to the third and fifth articles of the convention, 
of which we have already spoken, merely gave the English the 
right, in common with the Spaniards, 1o land and trade on points 
of the coast to the north of the port of San Francisco. 

We have scrupulously presented, in chronological order, the 
various expeditions undertaken with the view of reconnoitering, 
or of founding settlements on, the north-west coast. We shall, in 
the same order and in the same spirit, give a summary of the 
journeys made into the interior of the country. 

We must here remark that, to insure the monopoly of the fur 
trade in the north-west territory of America, the celebrated Hud- 
son's Bay Company had obtained new recruits, in 1784, from 
among the Canadians, under the denomination of the North-West 
Company of Montreal. It absorbed, in the same manner, several 
other associations, subsequently engaged in the same trade. 

The North-West Company, however, retained its own consti- 
tution for several years. The capital of the company was at first 
divided into sixteen shares; it was then increased to twenty; and 
finally to forty. A certain portion of these shares belonged to 
agents residing at Montreal, who furnished the means necessary 
to carry on the business. The remainder of the shares was divided 
among proprietors or partners charged with the administration of 
the affairs of the company at the posts or forts in the interior, and 
clerks who directly traded with the Indians. 

The assistants, or clerks, were, for the most part, young Scotch- 
men who had entered the service of the company for five or seven 
years. At the expiration of this term of apprenticeship, they were 
admitted into the company as partners. 

The subordinate assistants, such as guides, interpreters, or voy- 
ageurs, were recruited from among the Canadians. The latter 
served at once as porters and boatraeft on the rivers. All the 



262 AMERICAN POWER. 

assistants, stimulated by the hope of advancement, remained in 
the interest of the company. 

The merchandise imported from England by the agents to 
carry on the trade with the Indians was generally packed in 
bales weighing from a hundred to a hundred and ten pounds. 
The packages of furs sent in exchange were of very nearly 
equal weight. Four years elapsed before a return could be 
made. 

Alexander Mackenzie, one of the members of the company, 
commanding Fort Tchipionyan, a post on the lake of the Atha- 
bosca Mountains, undertook, in 1789, on behalf of the company, 
an exceedingly adventurous exploring journey, with the object of 
reaching the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

Lake Athabosca, on the shores of which Mackenzie resided, is 
nearly two hundred miles long, east and west ; its mean width is 
about thirteen miles; and it is situated near the fifty-ninth degree 
of north latitude, and about midway between the Pacific Ocean 
and Hudson's Bay. 

Mackenzie embarked, in June, on Slave River, entered the 
great Slave Lake, and discovered a large river, to which he gave 
his own name. He then descended this river for nearly nine 
hundred miles, in a north-west direction, until it terminated in 
the ocean, or what he supposed to be the ocean. In the course 
of three months, he returned to Fort Tchipionyan. 

In 1792, Mackenzie undertook another journey in behalf of the 
North-West Company, with the view of extending the field of 
its commercial operations with the Indians beyond the Rocky 
Mountains, and of exploring the sources of the Columbia River. 
He set out on the 10th of October, and ascended the Unjegala or 
Peace River, as far as the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where 
he passed the winter. In June, he continued his journey, and 
ascended this river to its sources in about 54° north latitude. He 
then crossed a portage of half a mile, embarked on another river, 
called by the natives Tacontahutessee, or Frasler River, and de- 
scended it for a distance of two hundred and ten miles, mistaking 
it for the Columbia River; but so great became the difficulties of 
navigation, that he was obliged to abandon the river, and to seek, 
by land, in a south-westerly direction, the shores of the Pacific. 
He reached the coast on' the 22d of July, 1793, to the north of 
Quadra and Vancouver's Island, and therefore about four hundred 



CLAIM OF THE RUSSIANS. 263 

and fifty miles to the north of the mouth of the Columbia River, 
and about one year after Captain Gray had entered and ex- 
plored it. 

The river which Mackenzie mistook for the Columbia was 
Frasier River, which takes its rise farther to the north, and empties 
into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, near Puget's Sound. 

Mackenzie, pursuing a more direct course on his return, reached 
his post in August. 

Notwithstanding the authenticity of these facts, the English 
have never hesitated to affirm that Mackenzie was the first who 
discovered and explored the upper course of the Columbia. 

In 1794, Trudeau, a citizen of St. Louis, performed a journey 
to the Rocky Mountains in behalf of the Spanish government. 
At about the same period, and under the same government, Ma- 
nuel Lisas was carrying on a profitable trade in furs with the 
north-west. 

The Russians began to turn their attention to the fur trade in 
America, then so profitable. In 1799, they attempted to found 
the celebrated establishment of Sitka. This was destroyed by 
the natives, but was rebuilt, as well as the establishments of 
Unalashka and Kodiak, in 1803. The Russian government then, 
sent an expedition to America with the object of giving to their 
establishments as thorough a development as possible. The com- 
mand of this expedition was intrusted to Captains Krusenstern 
and Lisiensky, who circumnavigated the globe, and returned to 
Cronstadt in August, 1806. 

The Russians then claimed the sovereignty of all the north- 
west coast of the American continent, from Behring's Straits to 
the mouth of the Columbia River, and attempted to impose re-' 
strictions upon American navigators and traders who claimed the 
right of free trade with the natives on the coast. Negotiations 
were opened on this subject between the Russian government 
and Mr. Adams, the American minister at St. Petersburgh. But 
the American government would never concede any of its just 
rights to the government of Russia. 

We now approach the most important epoch in the prosperity 
and advancement of the American republic — that at which, by a 
most inexplicable turn of fortune, France felt herself compelled 
to intrust to other hands the destinies of one of her most brilliant 
colonies. The cession of Louisiana to the United States took 
place on the 3d of April, 1803. 



264 AMERICAN POWER. 

By this too celebrated treaty, the United States became legal 
inheritors of all the rights and claims of France to the vast regions 
of country west of the Mississippi. 

Let us take a retrospective glance at the connection of events 
relative to the possessions of France on the American continent. 
The first thing which claims our attention is an edict, dated the 
14th of September, 1712, by which Louis the Fifteenth granted 
to Antoine Crozat a commercial monopoly over the whole ter- 
ritory of Louisiana. 

This decree is as follows : — 

"We do, by these presents, signed by our hand, grant to the 
said Sieur Crozat the sole right of trading in all the lands in our 
possession bounded by New Mexico and by the lands of the Eng- 
lish of Carolina; in all the settlements, ports, harbors, rivers, and 
especially the port and harbor of Dauphin Island, formerly called 
Massacre, the river St. Louis, formerly called Mississippi, from 
the sea-shore to the Illinois, together with the River St. Philip, 
formerly called the Missouri, and St. Hierosme, formerly called 
the Wabash ; and in all the country, or countries, inland lakes, 
and rivers emptying directly or indirectly into this portion of the 
River St. Louis. We decree that the said lands, countries, rivers, 
lakes, and islands be and remain included under the title of the 
General Government of Louisiana, which shall be dependent 
upon the general government of New France, to which it shall 
remain subordinate; and decree, besides, that all the lands which 
we possess from the Illinois shall be united, as need may be, to 
the general government of New France, and shall make part of 
it. We reserve, however, the right of increasing, if we judge 
proper, the extent of the government of the said country of 
Louisiana."* 

Crozat gave up this privilege in 1717. The Illinois country 
was joined to Louisiana, and ceded to the West India Company, 
better known as the Mississippi or Law's Company. This com- 
pany retained its rights of possession until the year 1732, at which 
period Louisiana was restored to the crown of France. This en- 
tire country continued to be administered as a French province 
until 1763, when it passed under the dominion of Spain. Ceded 

* Old French, and txanslated almost literally. — Tr. 



CAPTAINS LEWIS AND CLARKE. 265 

again to France in 1795, it was, in 1803, finally sold to the 
United States. 

Immediately after this important acquisition, the federal govern- 
ment of the Union directed its attention to the regions beyond the 
Rocky Mountains. To Thomas Jefferson, then President of the 
Republic, is due the honor of having first conceived the idea of 
extending the jurisdiction of the United States over the countries 
watered by the Pacific Ocean. Of the expedition thus projected, 
he drew up the plan himself. He wrote out the necessary in- 
structions, which he placed in the hands of Captains Lewis and 
Clarke, who were enjoined to conduct the enterprise to a success- 
ful issue. 

These bold explorers were directed to ascend the Missouri from 
its mouth to its sources; and then, by the most direct route, to 
reach the first navigable river on the western slope of the Rocky 
Mountains, and to follow it to the shores of the great ocean. 

This journey, begun on the 14th of May, 1804, was accom- 
plished with equal skill and success. Lewis and Clarke, accom- 
panied by forty men, who were furnished with means of defence, 
and enjoined to commit no aggressions, diligently sought to obtain 
a thorough knowledge of the countries through which they traveled. 
They endeavored to win the confidence of the natives, many tribes 
of whom they met on their route. They informed the Indians that 
the United States had succeeded the French in the possession of 
Louisiana, and that they were charged by their government to 
bring them peace, support, and protection; and, as a guarantee 
of the new compact the United States government wished to form 
with them, to offer them assistance, and such presents as would 
be conducive to their comfort. They then gave them arms, uni- 
forms, cloth, and a variety of useful articles, and hoisted the 
American flag in their midst, as the sign of sovereignty of the 
United States, of which, from that day, they became the adopted 
sons. Our travelers also represented the object of their enterprise 
as a visit their new father, the President of the United States, 
ordered to be made to his red children, and invited them, as a 
mark of gratitude, to send him a deputation. 

During their journey, to the west of the Rocky Mountains, 
Captains Lewis and Clarke had frequent intercourse with the 
natives of the country. They spent the winter among the Clas- 
sop Indians, with whom they left a written document, stating that 



266 AMERICAN POWER. 

they had been sent by "the government of the United States to 
explore the interior of the American continent ; that they had 
journeyed up the Missouri River, and down the Cokimbia to its 
mouth at the Pacific Ocean; that they had arrived there on the 
14th of November, 1805, and left on the 23d of March, 1806, to 
return, by the same route, to the United States." 

On their return, the expedition separated into two parties. 
Captain Lewis ascended the north branch of the Columbia, which 
he named Clarke River. He made a detailed survey of it and its 
principal tributaries. Captain Clarke traversed the main branch 
of the Columbia, called also Lewis River, until he reached the 
Yellow Stone. Descending this river to its confluence with the 
Missouri, he joined the party of Captain Lewis, when they re- 
turned together to St. Louis. They arrived on the 23d of Sep- 
tember, after having traveled, during this expedition by land, 
more than nine thousand miles. 

Whilst Lewis and Clarke were performing this adventurous 
journey in the north-west. Major Zebulon Montgomery Pike, by 
order of the government, also made a reconnoissance of the coun- 
tries west of the Mississippi. He ascended this river as high as 
Sandy Lake, in latitude 49°, In 1806, the same officer under- 
took another exploring expedition. Leaving the mouth of the 
Missouri, he ascended the Osage along its entire course; he then 
crossed to the Arkansas River, which he ascended to its source, 
whilst one of his countrymen, Wilkinson, descended the same 
river to its mouth. He afterwards reconnoitered the sources of 
the La Plata, and traveled beyond the mountains to the borders 
of the Rio del Norte, which he descended. 

Dunbar, Hunter, and Dr. Sibley, towards the same period, ex- 
plored the countries watered by the Red River and the Washita, 
which, flowing through Arkansas, take their rise in Texas. 

The English North-West Company, on hearing of the expedi- 
tion of Lewis and Clarke, attempted to anticipate its object; and, 
in 1805, sent M. Laroque to establish posts, and to occupy the 
basin of the Columbia River near its mouth. This expedition 
experienced so many difficulties that it was unable to penetrate, 
into the interior, beyond the tribes and villages of the Mandans 
of the Missouri. 

In 1806, this company projected another expedition, and sent 
Mr. Simon Frasier, with a party, to found posts to the west of the 



EMIGRATION TO THE SHORES OF THE PACIFIC. 267 

Rocky Mountains. Leaving Fort Tchipionyan, Frasier crossed 
the mountains near the gorge through which Peace River flows, 
and founded a post in the fifty-fourth degree of latitude, w^hich 
still retains his name. This was, in fact, the first English post 
established west of the mountains. Other posts were afterwards 
successively founded in those western regions, which received the 
name of Jfew Caledonia. 

The successful expeditions of Captains Lewis and Clarke opened 
to the Americans a vast field for speculation in the fur trade, 
in which several citizens of St. Louis had already acquired 
large fortunes and some reputation. At that time, the Missouri 
Company was formed, under the direction of Manuel Lisa. This 
intelligent gentleman founded several factories near the sources 
of the Missouri, and to the west of the Rocky Mountains, on the 
borders of Lewis River, a branch of the Columbia. Mr. Henry, 
one of his agents, was at the head of the latter establishments, 
which the enmity of the Indians, incited by the rivalry of the 
English companies, and the difficulty of procuring provisions, 
forced him to abandon in 1810. 

Enterprising travelers, interested in the fur trade, thus boldly 
advanced into these regions, until then, so to speak, unknown, 
anticipating, in return for the privations they endured, and the 
numberless dangers they encountered, a great increase of wealth. 

Grttdually, the inhabitants of the lower shores of the Missouri 
and Arkansas began to ascend these rivers, and spread throughout 
the intermediate countries, thus temporarily suspending their on- 
ward course towards the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. 

Other landmarks, to direct the course of American emigration 
towards the shores of the Pacific Ocean, yet remained to be planted 
across the 'chains of the Rocky Mountains by men of expansive 
views, who could grasp the realization, at a very early period, of 
the immense destinies of the American nation. 

To John Jacob Astor, a citizen of New York, is due the honor 
of having first realized the idea of occupying, in the name of the 
United States, the mouth and shores of the great river of which 
Captain Gray had discovered the entrance, and Lewis and Clarke 
reconnoitered the course. 

Another American citizen. Captain Smith, of Boston, also con- 
ceived the same project in 1810. He arrived by sea at the mouth 
of the Columbia River, and laid the foundation of a settlement at 



268 AMERICAN POWER. 

Oak Pointy on the southern shore of the river. The Indians de- 
stroyed this post, and Smith was compelled to abandon his enter- 
prise. 

John Jacob Astor, in 1810, founded the American Atlantic 
Company, for the prosecution of the fur trade. The seat of this 
company was in New York. 

Two very remarkable circumstances, which here deserve our 
notice, have transpired relative to the intentions of its founder. 
In the first place, Mr. Astor selected the elements of his company, 
in great part, from among the English subjects or agents who 
had been in the service of the North- West Company of Montreal. 
In the second place, he feared the competition which this rich 
company might set up against his enterprise, and therefore made 
a proposal to its directors, through a secret agent, to become in- 
terested in one-third of the capital. This proposition was not 
accepted. 

Mr. Astor projected two expeditions, one by sea and the other 
by land. In 1809, he sent his first vessel, the Enterprise, Cap- 
tain Elbot, to the north-west coast. In September, 1810, the 
remaining one, the Tonquin, Captain Jonathan Thorn, sailed from 
New York, with all the persons on board requisite for the esta- 
blishment to be founded at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

In January of the same year, the land expedition, under the 
command of Wilson P. Hunt, and composed of seventy-three men, 
left St. Louis, and pursued as nearly as possible the route taken 
by Lewis and Clarke. 

In October, 1811, Mr. Astor sent out, by a third vessel, the 
Beaver, Captain Sowles, the other managers and agents of the 
company, of which Mr. Clarke had been appointed director. He 
also took the precaution to send an agent to St. Petersburgh to 
enter into a commercial arrangement with the Russian Company. 

Captain Thorn arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River on 
the 24th of March, 1811. He experienced great difficulty in 
crossing the bar, on which occasion he lost three of his crew. 
He immediately commenced, in conformity with his instructions, 
to build a house for the protection of the colonists he was to leave 
behind him. For this purpose, he chose the position previously 
designated, by the English Captain Broughton, Point George, on 
the southern shore. The necessary building materials had been 



"ASTORIA. 269 

brought from New York thoroughly prepared, and the house was 
soon constructed. 

This small colony took the name of Jlstoria, in honor of the 
founder of the company. 

Whilst this incipient colony was thus actively engaged in its 
organization, it was visited, in July, by a detachment of the North- 
West Company, under the orders of Mr. Thompson, geographer 
and astronomer of the company. This party was well received 
by the American colony under its commander Macdougal, who 
had formerly been in the employ of the English company. This 
company, when informed of Mr. Astor's project, had immediately 
resolved to prevent its realization by the prior foundation of an 
establishment at the mouth of the Columbia River. It had, for 
this purpose, sent out an expedition, which had miscarried. A 
second one arrived, under the orders of Mr. Thompson; but, as 
we have just seen, after an establishment had already been 
founded by the Americans. 

Thus, Lewis and Clarke discovered the Columbia River in 1805, 
and reached its mouth on the 14th of November of the same 
year. 

The English North-West Company did not found its first esta- 
blishment to the west of the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 54°, 
and consequently, some distance from the basin of the Columbia 
River, till 1806. 

In fine, the American establishments on the Columbia River 
were founded in 1809, 1810, and 1811 ; whilst Thompson, director 
of the English North-West Company, did not arrive among the 
Flathead Indians till 1811, after Astoria had been founded. 

Such are the facts relative to the succession of European set- 
tlements in the western regions — facts which establish the pre- 
cedency of the Americans, 

Let us resume the thread of our narrative. 

Mr. Thompson, after having given his men time to rest, and 
received all the provisions the Americans could spare, returned 
homeward. He was accompanied by a party of Americans, under 
the orders of Mr. Davis Stuart, who founded the post of Okenagan 
on one of the branches of the Columbia, indiscriminately desig- 
nated as Thompson and Clarke River, about one hundred and 
fifty or two hundred miles above its mouth. 

Towards the end of January, 1812, one-half of the American 



270 AMERICAN POWER. 

party sent by land, under the orders of Mr. Hunt, arrived at 
Astoria in a most deplorable condition. A second detachment 
arrived, a short time after, in a condition equally miserable. 

At length, on the 5th of May, the Beaver, commanded by Cap- 
tain Sowles, arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River, with 
additional colonists and all kinds of provisions. 

The Tonquin, Captain Thorne, had been wrecked on the coast, 
to the south, in June, 1811, and the whole party, with the excep- 
•tion of one man who had escaped and made his way to Astoria, 
had been murdered by the Indians. 

The unfortunate Mackay was on board of this vessel. Mr. 
Hunt was then appointed on the mission to Russia, whither he 
sailed in the Beaver in August, 1812. 

During the summer of 1812, the Americans were busily en- 
gaged in founding new posts. A third post was established at 
the head waters of the Kouskouski, a tributary of the Columbia, 
on the very spot where Lewis and Clarke, in their journey of dis- 
covery, had built boats to descend these rivers. Donald Mack- 
enzie, John Reide, and Alfred Seton formed a part of this third 
detachment. 

The post of Spokan was founded on the river, and among a 
tribe of Indians, of the same name. 

The last post was established on the River Wallamette. 

By means of these various posts or factories, all of which were 
connected by water communication, the American North- West 
Fur Company had extended its operations, and consequently its 
influence, over a territory more than seven hundred miles in 
extent. 

As a result of the relations thus established, rich and numerous 
supplies of furs began to arrive at the central settlement of Astoria, 
to be shipped to China on board the Beaver on her return voyage 
to the coast, when, in January, 1813, information was received 
at Astoria that the United States had declared war against Great 
Britain in the preceding June. 

Subsequently, Messrs. Mactavish and Laroque brought intel- 
ligence that the progress of the war was unfavorable to the Ame- 
ricans. Nevertheless, they were well received by the chiefs of 
the American posts, who, whether from a feeling of kindness for 
their former patrons, or from a spirit of speculation, or want of 



SETTLEMENTS ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 271 

confidence in their new position, sold Astoria to the agents of the 
North-West Company. 

This transaction had been conchided a few days before Captain 
Black, commanding his majesty's ship Raccoon, took official pos- 
session of the American settlement. This officer immediately 
changed the name of Astoria to that of Fort George. 

When Mr. Hunt, on the 28th of February, returned to Astoria 
from his mission to St. Petersburgh, he found that the establish- 
ments and property of the company had changed masters. 

But the Treaty of Ghent, signed on the 24th of December, 
1814, left the respective rights of the English and Americans to 
the territory of Oregon, as well as their boundaries to the west of 
the Rocky Mountains, in an unsettled state. Things remained 
on the same basis of reciprocity, that is to say, simultaneous oc- 
cupation and trade, that had been sanctioned in 1807. 

The Americans, therefore, assumed the right of retaking and 
occupying the posts they had founded before the war. It would 
even appear that, on the pressing request of Mr. Astor, who pro- 
posed to continue his commercial relations with the north-west, 
the government of the United States officially informed the Eng- 
lish government of its intention to resume possession of the posts 
on the Columbia. But, in consequence of highly censurable 
carelessness on the part of the federal government, no measures 
were resorted to to effect this object until the arrival of Captain 
Biddle, in September, 1817, in the United States sloop-of-war 
Ontario, at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

From 1815 to 1818, Lieutenant Kotzebue, of the Russian ser- 
vice, made a very interesting voyage to the Pacific Ocean, in 
search of a north-w^est passage. 

Captain Biddle took possession of the American posts on the 
Columbia River in August, 1818. 

Mr. Provon, the commissioner appointed by the American go- 
vernment ^to obtain the restitution of the posts of the north-west, 
arrived at the Columbia, on board of an English vessel, in Oc- 
tober, 1818. Thus, Astoria was restored to its founders and 
proprietors, through American officers, unconditionally. But the 
American Fur Company made no efforts to continue its operations 
in those distant regions. On the other hand, the English agents, 
continuing to reside there, have remained masters of these posts, 
thus securing the monopoly of the fur trade. 



272 AMERICAN POWER. 

The English, since the period referred to, have founded Fort 
Vancouver, about ninety miles above the naouth of the Columbia, 
in a position which commands the navigation of the river. The 
surrender of the American posts on the Columbia was the result 
of a convention entered into between the governments of the United 
States and Great Britain, on the 20th of October, 1818, which 
contains the following clauses: — 

Article second. It is agreed, between Great Britain and the 
United States, that the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, starting 
from the north-western extremity of the Lake of the Woods, and 
extending to the chain of the Rocky Mountains, shall serve as 
the boundary line between the two countries. 

Article fifth. All the territory to the north-west and w^est of 
the Rocky Mountains, and all the harbors, bays, rivers, islands, 
&c., claimed by either party, shall be open and free for the term 
of ten years from the date of the signing of the present convention ; 
this temporary arrangement being so understood as in nowise to 
prejudice the claims of either of the contracting parties to any 
portion of the Oregon Territory. 

In 1819, the animosity that had for many years existed between 
the Hudson's Bay and the English North- West Companies was 
amicably brought to a close through the interposition of Parlia- 
ment. The two companies were then merged into one, or, rather, 
the Hudson's Bay Company absorbed the other. 

In consequence of this fusion. Parliament, on the 2d of July, 
1821, passed an act "to regulate the fur trade, and to establish a 
civil and criminal jurisdiction, in certain portions of North Ame- 
rica." The ostensible object of this act was to give more stability 
to the Hudson's Bay Company; but the true and not less apparent 
one was to justify its pretensions to jurisdiction and property in 
these regions. 

The year 1819, like that of 1803, was an epoch in the political 
history of the United States ; for that year was signalized by an act 
highlyimportant to the j)rosperity and security of that great republic, 
the acquisition of Florida by a treaty which bears its name. The 
boundary line established by this treaty between the United States 
and the Spanish possessions in America was to commence at the 
sources of the Arkansas River in latitude 42° north, and to take 
a westerly course as far as the Pacific Ocean. Besides, his 
Catholic majesty ceded to the United States all his rights, claims, 



HUDSON'S I5AY COMPANY. 273 

and pretensions 1o the tcrrilory norlli of lliis lino, and for over 
renounced all right and title to it in his own name and in that ol 
his heirs and suecessors. 

Mexico, at the ratification of this treaty, formed a part of the 
Sjianish monarchy, and was thus bound by the same stipulation. 

The only IJrilish possessions in Amf;rica, in 1819, were the 
territories bordering on the St. liawrence and Hudson's Bay. 
The remainder of the Amr-rican territory, to the east of the Rocky 
Mountains, and to the south-west as far as the boundary of Mexico, 
had become the incontestable property of the United States, as 
heir of the titles and rights of France and Spain to the greater 
portion of the coast of the Pacific Ocean; the validity and priority 
of which rights we have already sufficiently established. 

The exploring expeditions of Ross, Perry, and Franklin took 
place about the year 1821. 

The Hudson's liay and North- West Companies, as we have 
just stated, were merged into one, under the title of Jfudnonh liny 
Fur Company, to which Parliament granted the entire monopoly 
of the fur trade in the terms of the concession made by Charles 
the Second, and invested it with civil jurisdiction over all the 
country it occupied. 

By virtue of the privileges thus awarded, the Hudson's Bay 
Company extended its jurisdiction, not only over all the British 
possessions in Hudson's liay, but also over all the territory of 
Oregon, and even over a part of California. It thus became, 
in relation to America, what the East India Company is to the 
mercantile and financial aristocracy of England, a means of 
extending its monopoly, and to its government an element of 
encroachment and usurpation. 

This position, which, by the by, is not a novel one, and con- 
sequently should occasion no surprise, arises from the ordinary 
course of policy of that half-merchant and half-aristocratic power 
of Great Britain, which sought to oppose a barrier to the threat- 
ening extension of American democracy. 

Let us briefly consider the present organization of the Hudson's 
Bay Company. This company possesses a large capital, divided 
into as many shares as there are proprietors, the greater number 
of whom reside in America, and personally watch over the in- 
terests of the comi)any. The shares are not held as perpetual 
18 



274 AMERICAN POWER. 

property, nor are they transferable as other shares. They are 
held for life, and transmissible only by substitution, that is to say, 
by transfers arranged beforehand with the consent of the parties, 
the new proprietor being placed in the same condition as his 
predecessor. 

The chiefs or factors residing in America have the title of 
associates or partners. Each partner placed at the head of the 
factories has a salary equivalent to an eighth of a share, twenty- 
five thousand francs (five thousand dollars) a year ; the subordinate 
agents are entitled only to the sixteenth of a share. 

The principal agents hold an annual meeting at York, in Upper 
Canada, at which the reports transmitted by the subordinate agents 
are examined, and the administration purified. Here they de- 
liberate, and discuss the plans of operation for the following cam- 
paign; the new orders to be given to trappers; in short, such 
general directions as will increase the profits of the company, and 
tend to the preservation of the beaver in the company's districts. 
Their report is then sent to the directors in London for their per- 
sonal examination. 

This company, by the power derived from its constitution, ex- 
ercises a complete despotism over all its subordinates. It has 
absolute control of the liberty of all who are in its service, whether 
as sub-agents, employees, bondsmen, or slaves ; for the slavery 
which exists in all the Indian tribes is also admitted throughout 
the domain of the Hudson's Bay Company. The chiefs have 
therefore the power of life and death over any individual who 
refuses to submit to the rules of the company. They regulate, 
determine, or withdraw at will the salaries of all their agents or 
employees. They fix the price of all provisions or articles of 
consumption, as also of the beaver skins sold by the natives. 
From these purchases, and from the sale of their merchandise, 
they realize a profit of not less than three hundred per cent. 

The laborers, who are generally natives of the Orkney Islands 
or Canadians, are enlisted for a term of five years in the service 
of the company, and receive from three hundred and seventy-five 
to four hundred and twenty-five francs a year (from seventy-five 
to eighty-five dollars). The clerks at the posts are better paid. 
All are armed, disciplined, and subjected to a rule equal in 
severity to that of an army. Every act of insubordination is 
immediately punished with death. 



HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. 275 

Each trapper is accompanied by three or four slaves. The 
price of an Indian slave is from ten to twenty blankets; that of a 
female is higher. If a slave dies within six months after he has 
been purchased, the seller is bound to return half the price paid 
for him. The love of gain with respect to the sale of a native is 
such among the Indians, that the instances are frequent in which 
fathers sell their own sons. 

The company has covered the Oregon Territory with factories 
and military posts, which serve as store-houses and rallying-points 
for their agents and for the Indians. The central factory or store- 
house is at Vancouver, on the northern shore, upwards of one 
hundred miles above the mouth of the Columbia, and at the head 
of navigation. At the southern portion of this river, the company 
has built Fort Umaqua, near the mouth of a river of the same 
name. It has invaded a part of California, and occupies an im- 
portant post in the harbor of San Francisco, one of the best on 
the north-west coast of the Pacific, which vessels of all sizes can 
enter. It is now mistress of more than five hundred thousand 
square miles to the west, and of two million five hundred thousand 
miles to the east, of the Rocky Mountains. 

In fine, as though the territory of Oregon were insufficient to 
satisfy the ambition of England, who aspires to become absolute 
mistress of the whole of the Pacific, and to be independent of the 
competition of Russia in the markets of China, the Hudson's Bay 
Company, in 1842, took a lease for ten years of all the Russian 
establishments in North America at an annual rent of from twenty- 
six to forty thousand dollars. 

This treaty, however, does not include the post at the Island of 
Sitka, where Russia has a very large establishment. 

The last circumstance we shall notice concerning the views 
of England relative to America — a circumstance which should 
justly alarm the Americans, from its tendency to menace their 
power — is that the Hudson's Bay Company has recently directed 
its attention to the permanent occupation of the Oregon Territory, 
by founding agricultural and manufacturing establishments, and 
practical schools for the education of a generation it is raising 
with its own ideas and under its own domination. 

To insure its trade with these countries, the company has a 
small naval force at its disposal, composed of four vessels adapted 
for long voyages, two schooners which sail along the coast from 



276 AMERICAN POWER. 

California to the Russian settlements, and a steamer. All these 
vessels are fully armed and equipped. Moreover, they have 
founded an establishment at the Sandwich Islands, where these 
vessels can take in refreshments and provisions. 

The Americans, whose numerous whale-ships frequent these 
seas, have, with the consent of the local authorities, also established 
a station on these islands, which, being the most important in 
Oceanica, alone afford all the advantages of a provision station 
favorable to the commercial interests which attract to the Pacific 
Ocean all the maritime nations of the world. 

The Sandwich Islands are destined to realize a high degree of 
commercial prosperity, because of their remarkable geographical 
position in Oceanica, midway between America and China, and 
in the direct track of European vessels bound to India or on 
whaling voyages. The native inhabitants of these islands un- 
derstand the immense advantages of their position, and have 
therefore, for some time, been endeavoring to obtain the acknow- 
ledgment of their independence and of their neutrality. With 
this object they have sent commissioners to Washington, London, 
and Paris to negotiate, as a free nation, concerning their own 
interests. I doubt not that, already well received in the United 
States and in England, they will be equally well received in 
France, where the government should well understand the im- 
portance of the independence and neutrality of that portion of the 
globe, as a security that no foreign power shall exercise over it 
undue influence. 

A new American association, the Columbia Company, was 
organized in 1822; but, in 1826, it was united to the North 
American Company. 

In 1823, M. H. Ashley undertook a journey towards the sources 
of the Colorado in California, west of the Rocky Mountains. He 
visited the shores of the La Plata, and established a station near 
Lake Utah. 

In 1824, the United States and Russia concluded a convention, 
establishing the boundaries of their respective territories in Ame- 
rica. By the third article of this convention, it was agreed that 
no citizen should, without the authority of the United States, found 
any settlement on the north-west coast of America, or in any of 
the adjacent islands, north of 54° 40'; while Russia, on her part, 



TITLE OF THE UNITED STATES TO OREGON. 277 

engaged not to permit any of her subjects to settle to the south 
of that line. 

In 1825, Russia concluded a treaty with Great Britain, by 
which both parties agreed to consider the same parallel, 54° 40', 
and its intersection with the southern extremity of Prince of 
Wales Island, as the boundary between their possessions on the 
coasts and islands of the north-western portion of the American 
continent. 

In 1824 and 1825, the government of the United States made 
a proposition to Great Britain to adopt latitude 49° north as their 
boundary from the west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 
Ocean, admitted by the treaty of 1818 as the boundary line to 
the east of the Rocky Mountains. The English ministry refused 
to accede to this proposition, for which they substituted an offer 
to consider the forty-ninth degree as the line of separation, but 
only to the point where it intersects the sources of the Columbia 
River, the middle of which was to be followed as a boundary to 
the Pacific Ocean. 

By this insidious offer, England aimed at securing to herself 
the most important military and maritime positions on the coast, 
in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, on Puget's Sound, and at the 
mouth of the Columbia River, and would have been certain, from 
that period, of remaining mistress of the commerce of that coast, 
and of the whole of Oregon Territory. 

In 1827, the United States rejected this proposition, on the 
ground that it would thereby concede to Great Britain a territory 
to the south of the forty-ninth degree. The United States acted 
wisely in refusing to accede to this new claim of the British 
government; because in fact, as well as by right, the Americans 
have an incontestable title to the occupation of the north-west 
territory, at least as far as the fiftieth degree of latitude. For if, 
with the object of determining the limit of the rights which a 
nation claims, the discovery of a river and the formation of a set- 
tlement at a given time are assumed as the basis of the title to 
property and sovereignty to all the territory which this river waters, 
the deduction from this principle is that the United States should 
extend its claims to all the north-west territory at least as high 
as the fifty-third degree, the point where the Columbia takes its 
northern rise. If, however, we rest on the other principle, that 
every nation which takes possession of an unknown or unoccupied 



278 AMERICAN POWER. 

country has the right of sovereignty over one-half of the territory 
comprised between its settlements and those of another nation, 
we still conclude that, as the American posts of Astoria and 
Clafsops are situated very nearly in latitude 46° 20', whilst the 
English post, supposed to be the most southern of the two founded 
by Cook in 1778, is in latitude 61° 30', latitude 53° 54' ought to 
become the northern limit between the territories of England and 
the United States. 

The negotiations between the two countries relative to this 
question having produced no result, Mr. Gallatin received orders 
from the cabinet at Washington officially to notify the English 
government that the American government no longer held itself 
bound to abide by the propositions previously made, to settle the 
limits of the north-west territory, and that the United States re- 
served its full rights and titles to its possessions in this territory. 

Nevertheless, by the convention of 1827, it was admitted by 
the two nations : — 

1st. That the clauses of the convention of 1818 should con- 
tinue in full force for an indefinite length of time, as though they 
had become the subject of new negotiations. 

2d. That from the 20th of October, 1828, either of the con- 
tracting parties should have the right to recede from the terms of 
the convention, by giving to the other one year's notice, in the 
usual form. 

3d. Finally, each of the parties maintained certain reservations 
relative to its respective rights, which each pretended to preserve 
in their integrity. 

From 1824 to 1827, Ashley, having carried on a profitable 
trade with the posts to the west of the Rocky Mountains, entered 
into an arrangement with the company founded by Messrs. Smith, 
Jackson, and Sublette, to which he transferred his interests. At 
that time, a direct communication was established by large parties 
between the post of Lake Utah and St. Louis. 

Pilcher undertook an expedition to the west of the Rocky 
Mountains in 1827, 1828, and 1829. 

In 1828, the United States concluded a treaty with Mexico, 
which had then become a State independent of the crow^n of 
Spain. The boundary established between Spain and the United 
States was confirmed by the Mexican government. Thus, on 



IMPORTANCE OF OREGON. 279 

this question, no difficulty can arise between the United States 
and Mexico. 

In summing up the results of the treaties concluded between 
the United States and Spain, Russia, and Mexico, as well as of 
the convention with England, previously cited in their chronolo- 
gical order, we see that the American Republic established, by 
these acts, the boundaries within which it pretended to enforce 
its rights of property and sovereignty over the shores of the 
great Pacific Ocean. These limits were comprised between lati- 
tudes 42° and 54° 40' north, and inclose a territory of tivelve 
degrees and forty minutes in extent on the ocean. 

Great Britain alone contested the validity of the rights of the 
United States to this extent of district, and raised claims to the 
greater part, if not to the whole, of it. The preceding analysis 
must have thrown light on this dispute, and shown in whom the 
rights inhere. They were, as we have said, incontestably on the 
side of the Americans. 

Such, however, was the question to be settled between the 
two rival powers, in the solution of which each thought its honor 
and interests equally at stake ; although, in my opinion, the situ- 
ation of England was the more embarrassing and dangerous. 

We must here remark that England could not renounce her 
pretensions to the occupation of the mouth of the Columbia, and 
the posts depending on this river, without yielding to the Ame- 
ricans all the advantages of these maritime and military positions, 
whose importance, on account of the great commercial interests 
that attracted all the nations of Europe to these regions, had 
greatly augmented. Now, the grave feature of the alternative 
is this : If Great Britain, on the one hand, retains possession of 
this coast, her preponderance in the Pacific will become so great 
as to be highly detrimental to the Americans, the only rivals 
whom she fears. If, on the other hand, the United States is 
allowed free access to the western coast, the Americans will im- 
mediately assume preponderance in those seas. 

The American Republic increases daily, rather because of the 
enterprising character and commercial ambition of its citizens, 
than of the intervention of the government. In the hands of 
Americans, a new station on the north-west coast would, in the 
pursuit of their destiny of commercial and manufacturing anta- 
gonism to Great Britain, soon become a powerful auxiliary. 



280 AMERICAN POWER. 

This commercial enterprise Great Britain will strive by all the 
means in her power to check or altogether prevent; because it 
is that which she most fears. 

But the Americans wisely appreciate their exceptional position, 
and the advantages it assures them, so long, at least, as they shall 
have the wisdom to maintain their constitution, to which they are 
indebted for their happy governmental centralization, the only 
strength and security of their national existence. They have 
always been accustomed to consider the whole continent as even- 
tually their inheritance ; and this consummation is rapidly ap- 
proaching, through the miraculous progress of their system of 
colonization, which insures the gradual, but not less certain, occu- 
pation of the vast domain which has fallen to their lot. What 
can conventions, treaties, and even an armed resistance effect 
against the inevitable activity of their nature? Probably retard 
the result for a time. But, sooner or later, the Americans must 
become masters of the mouth of the Columbia River on the great 
ocean, as they now are of the mouth of the Hudson on the At- 
lantic; and, certain of this result, they await the force of events 
to place them in possession of the territory they claim, rather than 
by force of arms attempt to wrest it from an enemy that might be 
long able to resist their efforts. 

We must not, however, be deceived by the apparent forbear- 
ance of the American people; this has its limits. Of their 
ability to secure respect, they have already given ample proofs. 
They are steadfast in their purpose. The claims which, for the 
time, they fail to urge, are merely held in abeyance until a suita- 
ble opportunity arises for reviving them. 

The question of the occupation and colonization of Oregon is 
not of very recent origin. As far back as 1804, President Jeffer- 
son actively engaged in plans to extend the jurisdiction of the 
United States over this territory. President Monroe, adopting the 
views of Jefferson, in 1824 made a special message to Congress, 
recommending the establishinent of military posts at the mouth 
of the Columbia River. The following year, John Quincy 
Adams, on his accession to the Presidency, recommended the 
adoption of the same measure, and, moreover, the establishment 
of a naval station on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. President 
Tyler, during his administration, renewed the recommendation. 

In consequence of these several executive recommendations, 



PRESIDENT POLK'S MESSAGE. 281 

Congress at length took the urgency of this national measure into 
consideration : first, in 1821 ; then successively in the years 1826, 
1838, 1839, 1843, and 1844. The committees to which this part 
of the presidential messages has been referred have uniformly 
reported favorably upon it, and have called the attention of Con- 
gress to the measures that would be most in accordance with the 
sentiment of the nation. But these reports, thus far, have re- 
mained without any effective result. 

The committee to which this subject w^as referred, in 1843, 
expressed itself in much stronger terms than any previous com- 
mittee, relative to the necessity of adopting measures to extend 
the jurisdiction of the American government over the Oregon 
Territory. Advancing the opinion that, by right, the United States 
was under no obligation previously to give the British govern- 
ment notice of its intention to extend its jurisdiction over a terri- 
tory to which it was entitled, the committee urged an appropria- 
tion of two hundred thousand dollars to carry its recommendation 
into effect. The amount of the appropriation was certainly not the 
cause of the rejection of the proposal; nevertheless, the question 
was once more postponed. This last delay concerning the ac- 
complishment of a measure daily gaining numerous partisans, 
grew out of causes which, on the election of Mr. Polk to the Pre- 
sidency, ceased to exist. 

In this election, the great democratic party triumphed through- 
out every portion of the Union. It was then enabled to express 
its opinions, in both Houses of Congress, with assurance amount- 
ing almost to certainty that a majority would support all the 
measures proposed by its official organ. 

In his remarkable message to both Houses of Congress, on the 
2d of December, 1845, the President, in clear and precise terms, 
expressed the determination of the government to occupy the dis- 
puted territory, not provisionally, but permanently. The Presi- 
dent declared plainly, and with firmness, that the right of the 
United States to Oregon was absolute ; that the American govern- 
ment intended to maintain it under all circumstances, and, if ne- 
cessary, by force of arms ; that there was no further occasion for 
compromise ; that the term of the provisional convention would 
expire in one year ; and finally, that, by extending over the dis- 
puted territory the laws of the United States, and by establishing 



282 AMERICAN POWER. 

a chain of posts to be occupied by American soldiers, it was 
thenceforth to become an integral portion of the American soil. 

No document emanating from the chief magistrate of the 
United States was ever received with more approbation and en- 
thusiasm ; for no message had ever given a more frank and ex- 
plicit exposition of the national will concerning all that affects 
the interests and honor of the people! 

It must not, however, be understood that the American govern- 
ment intended, by its last message, entirely to reject all negotia- 
tion. In a laudable spirit of conciliation, and with the desire 
to avoid, as much as was compatible with the dignity and rights 
of the nation, any cause of rupture that might compromise the 
general peace, it confessed itself willing to forego its legal claims, 
and to accept the forty-ninth degree of latitude as the boundary 
between the two nations upon the Pacific coast, thus according 
free entrance into all the ports of Vancouver's Island, to the south 
of that parallel ; that is to say, free entrance into the Straits of 
Juan de Fuca, or Puget's Sound. 

The English government, not satisfied with this concession, 
still claimed the free navigation of the Columbia River. The 
American government peremptorily refused to accede to this new 
claim of the English diplomatists in favor of the interests of the 
celebrated Hudson's Bay Company in the Oregon Territory. 

We think that the United States ought not to have recognized 
any such extravagant claims. By granting free entrance into the 
ports of Vancouver's Island, it has conceded a great right — a 
fact which, must satisfactorily prove to all European politicians 
that the American democrats are not ambitious, and ready to 
sacrifice everything, even the peace of the world, in a spirit of 
propagandism or aggrandizement. 

The Americans are not propagandists ; they are only attached 
to their own institutions, which an experience of seventy years 
has proved to be, of all others, the best adapted for their situa- 
tion ; and, in consequence, they are animated by a spirit of ob- 
stinacy — a spirit which has been thoroughly proved on all occa- 
sions — where the maintenance of their rights has been necessary. 
Nothing can make them flinch on this point. 

The British government, well knowing the character of the 
nation with which it was engaged on the Oregon question, and 
knowing all its resources in case of a rupture ; knowing also the 



THE COLONIZATION OF OREGON. 283 

injury its commerce would suffer by the swarm of privateers that 
would infest the coast of the United States, should war be de- 
clared, hesitated not to renew negotiations, and immediately sent 
Lord Ashburton to treat directly on this subject with the govern- 
ment at Washington. 

During these discussions, the American emigrant still pressed 
onwards to the regions of the west, by all the methods appropriate 
to his character. The American preacher, with his company of 
gourageous and devoted followers, had already crossed the Rocky 
Mountains. Other missionaries, impelled by the same motives, 
have followed his footsteps, everywhere spreading the faith, the 
language, and the influence and authority of their country and 
government. These brave pioneers of American civilization 
have already founded seven missions in the Oregon territory: at 
Astoria ; at Multuoraia, or Wallamette ; in the Puget district ; on 
the Willamette; at Umpqua; and at Clatsop. The children of 
the forest collect around them to receive the first influences of 
civilization. A number of American families, impelled by the 
same spirit of proselytism, have also settled in those distant re- 
gions, where they are destined to become the nucleus of import- 
ant agricultural colonies ; for the valley of the Columbia offers 
irresistible attractions to the American. Its climate, soil, and 
natural productions are as favorable to man as those of the Mis- 
sissippi. The Rocky Mountains alone form a repulsive and sterile 
barrier, which emigrants require energy and perseverance to over- 
come to reach the western declivities, where nature has been so 
bountiful. 

It is not to be presumed that the progress of the American popu- 
lation towards the west — an advancement estimated, according 
to observation, at half a degree of longitude a year — will be 
checked by this barrier. This population must continue to ad- 
vance by reason of causes inherent in the very nature of the 
American. The desire of this active and eminently colonizing 
race is one day to cover the whole of North America. 

The occupation of Oregon can never be a subject of doubt. 
It is merely a question of time. In 1844, the population of those 
distant regions already amounted to more than eight thousand ; 
and we daily see new trains of emigrants, from the Eastern and 
Western States, carrying large reinforcements to the American 
family already organized on the shores of the Pacific. There a 



284 ■ AMERICAN POWER. 

regular elective government is constituted, composed of an ex- 
ecutive magistrate, a supreme judge, and a legislative assembly 
composed of nine members, elected by the people. The laws in 
force are those which govern the people of the territories of the 
United States. In fine, to create a moral influence over a popu- 
lation composed of such diverse elements, the legislature of 1844 
prohibited the use of ardent spirits under a penalty of one hun- 
dred and sixty dollars. 

We may then predict that, ere long, the same flood of emigraj 
tion which, from the shores of the Atlantic, emigrated beyond 
the Alleghany Mountains to the Valley of the Mississippi, will 
soon have gone beyond the barrier of the Rocky Mountains, to 
extend its influence on the shores of the Pacific. At a period 
not far remote, the American will find himself in front of India, 
with the same advantages that the people of the Atlantic possess 
relative to Europe. His active and enterprising spirit, aided 
by the marvelous power of steam, will render the American con- 
tinent an intermediate link in the Union that will have been cre- 
ated between Europe and the East Indies. 

1848. The Americans now have peaceable possession of the 
whole valley of the Columbia, and all the territory of Oregon. 
Their pioneers are already spreading over this admirable country, 
carrying with them their colonizing and dominant tendencies. 
Posts are established by which a regular chain of communication 
is kept up between Washington and Astoria, at the mouth of the 
Columbia River. A railroad twenty-six hundred miles long, des- 
tined one day to unite the Atlantic to the Pacific, is now spoken 
of, and will, ere long, be completed. It will cross the chain of 
the Rocky Mountains. The railroad is a vital artery of Ameri- 
can nationality, of its power, and of its commerce in the Pacific 
and with Asia ; and it will connect steam navigation on the At- 
lantic with that on the Pacific. 

When this project shall have been realized, the Americans will 
have concentrated on their own continent the commerce of Europe 
with China and Asia — an immense and colossal work, but in har- 
mony with the peculiar tendencies of their nature. 



REFLECTIONS. 285 



CHAPTER XXII. 



CONCLUSION. 



When we look back on the most prominent and characteristic 
facts contained in this historical and chronological summary of 
the first establishments, and of the various systems of colonization, 
of the Europeans in America, the first thing that strikes our atten- 
tion is the violent act of usurpation by which the European dis- 
placed the red man on the American continent. Another circum- 
stance, not less prominent, and not less deplorable for humanity, 
is the incessant disputes, the cruel conflicts, and the violent 
spoliations which sent abroad in the world the various civilized 
people who, in seeking to colonize the New Continent, arrogated 
to themselves, in the name of civilization and religion, which they 
abused in an equal degree, the right of reducing the natives to 
a state of slavery, and of appropriating the wealth of this un- 
known land to themselves. The third remarkable point — a point 
which certainly should not be lost sight of, as well for our imme- 
diate as for our future instruction — is the difference in the means 
adopted by Europeans of various origin in their systems of colo- 
nization, and especially the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, 
which alone remained mistress of the American soil. The means 
by which this result has been accomplished, although in them- 
selves unjust, have, nevertheless, produced useful results — results 
logically deducible from the conditions assumed. Let us examine 
the course of events, and their actual consequences. That the 
Europeans, when they arrived on the new continent, found pro- 
prietors of the soil, is an indisputable fact. But what were they? 
who were they ? A roving race of people who lived by the chase, 
and wandered over their immense domains like the beasts against 
which they warred, without a single element of a social institu- 
tion, or of a political organization. They existed in a sort of 7iega- 
tive community ; that is to say, they were in that primitive state 



286 AMERICAN POWER. 

in which all things exist prior to the civilization of mankind ; 
in a state of nature, in which property is unimproved, and in 
which, consequently, man is not superior to the bird or beast of 
the forest. 

By Negative Community, civilized man understands that state 
of things which is represented by accidental occupation ; but by 
Positive Community, on the contrary, that state of things in 
which is recognized the common and permanent property of the 
many, of which, consequently, no one can take possession anew 
without the consent of the first occupants. 

Such was the distinction on which the European founded his 
pretensions to dispossess the native American of his rights of pro- 
perty in the soil, which he had heretofore occupied without oppo- 
sition. 

By this simple preponderance, the European ranged the Ame- 
rican race under the former class, and himself, the white man par 
excellence, in the second. 

" It must be mine," said the European ; " and the reason is 
that I am a white man .'" 

Addressing the Indian, he said, " Your state of community can 
exist only in the midst of immense deserts ; it must yield to 
the strength and compact form of civilization ; for the earth was 
given to man only to support the greatest possible number of 
people. Consequently, no nation, no caste can pretend to the 
right of abstracting from the necessities of others more than 
is necessary to its own existence or its comfort .'" 

Where, we ask, would the application of such logic lead us, if 
we extend it to its legitimate results .'' Where would be the limit 
of necessity and comfortl- 

Besides, what shall we now say of the results of this ruthless 
logic, the complete expulsion, to be soon followed by the entire 
extinction, of the red race ? Nothing ; unless force may be as- 
sumed to sanction, though not justify, violence ! 

The second fact, the sanguinary struggles which marked the 
arrival of the Europeans on the American continent, who violently 
contested the right of property over a few leagues more or less 
of this vast domain, as though a territory so immense was not 
sufficiently large to contain all of them, is naturally explained by 
the spirit of egotism and cruelty to which man is prone when 
moved only by instinctive avarice, and uncontrolled by honor. 



FRENCH SYSTEM OF COLONIZATION. 287 

Under these circumstances, everything is perverted. The 
laudable ends of civilization become a means of spoliation, and 
religion itself an arm which fanaticism renders even more terri- 
ble ; as though an eternal Providence had been pleased to make 
us appear small in our own eyes in proportion as we believe our- 
selves elevated by the object we seek to attain ! 

The remaining circumstance to be considered deserves our espe- 
cial attention, for thence we may deduce historical lessons for 
present and future application. Various people left the north and 
south of Europe to take possession of the great discovery of Co- 
lumbus, each prompted by the desire of realizing, after its peculiar 
manner, all the advantages this discovery could afford. 

The French colonized Canada ; the English, Dutch, Scandina- 
vians, and Germans the coast of New England ; the Spaniards, 
the southern part of the continent. 

The French, in accordance with the peculiar genius of their 
nation, planted a military colony on the shores of the St. Law- 
rence, and on the borders of the great Lakes. They settled upon 
a unitarian and feudal basis, under the Roman Catholic faith. 
They determined the vague limits of the immense territory of 
New France by the mere planting of the cross. Commerce was 
brought to the aid of this colony ; but it proved a monopoly, 
yielding no profit to the colonists, and enriching only a few spe- 
culators in the mother country. No one thought of establishing 
real proprietors, and therefore inhabitants, in New France. To 
lead a military life, to follow the chase, and thus to enrich them- 
selves by the fur trade, were the only occupations of those who 
emigrated from the shores of the Seine, the Marne, or the Cha- 
rente to those of the St. Lawrence, and the Bay of Chaleurs. 

The French had scarcely succeeded in establishing a permanent 
post on the St. Lawrence, when they commenced a roving life, and 
boldly attacked the warlike Iroquois. A whole century passed in 
unequal struggles, though reflecting equal honor on the bravery 
of all who participated in the contest. The arms of France ap- 
peared to cover the whole American continent, from Hudson's 
Bay to the head of the Lakes, and from the sources of the Missis- 
sippi to the Gulf of Mexico ; but this vast space was occupied only 
by a few thousand men, distributed at detached points, pomp- 
ously dignified with the name of forts, posts, or cities. Real in- 
habitants there were none ; for every one was attracted by the 



288 AMERICAN POWER. 

charm of a roving and adventurous life, by the chances of real- 
izing a fortune, though at the risk and peril of life. No one 
thought of preserving property. The improvidence of the 
French, their unqualified confidence in their government relative 
to all that pertained to their general interests, left them, after the 
lapse of a century, as ill prepared to constitute and to maintain 
a society as on the first day of their arrival on the American 
Continent. 

The Spaniards discovered the southern part of the continent, 
but the foundation of their establishments was coincident with 
that of the French settlements. Under the sole guidance of ava- 
rice and religious fanaticism, they advanced boldly into the virgin 
forests, in solemn procession, with the cross and banner in front, 
seeking, by force of arms, to compel the natives to fall at their 
feet, and acknowledge them their masters ! Thus, with true 
Castilian vanity, they overran the desert plains of Florida, Geor- 
gia, and Alabama, with all the pomp of a triumph ; but, disap- 
pointed in the presumptuous hope of acquiring wealth without 
industry, they returned, dying with hunger and wretchedness, to 
the shores whence they had departed. Centuries elapse, and this 
indolent race, after having plundered the New World, to the 
natives of which it had ever been unmerciful, is compelled to 
abandon a territory into which it had never introduced the least 
germ of civilization. 

Such was the result of the system of colonization pursued by 
the people of the south of Europe. They displayed heroic cour- 
age, great boldness and perseverance, in the dangers and suffer- 
ings inseparable from the belligerent attitude they assumed to- 
wards the natives of the country they sought to conquer ; but 
they did not succeed in founding a permanent society, able to 
maintain itself by its own resources. Their failure is attributable 
to the fact that they adopted as the basis of their system of colo- 
nization the same principles by which the established order of 
things was regulated in their native countries. They did not 
comprehend that, in a new country, men inspired with new ideas, 
and animated with the holy fire of liberty and the spirit of a true 
religion, were required. They were unaffected by the sublime 
spectacle of nature presented by the splendid forests of the New 
World. Of the destiny of this world, they could form no concep- 
tion ! 



CHARACTER OF THE PURITAN SETTLERS. 289 

But the case was different with the people who came from the 
north of Europe. Of these, the greater number were Anglo- 
Saxons, who colonized the shores of New England sixty years 
subsequent to the foundation of the Spanish and French settle- 
ments. These colonists also founded the colony of Virginia, and 
marked the outset of their career, as inhabitants of a new world, 
by claiming, for themselves and descendants, the title and prero- 
gatives oi free citizens. Liberty thus served as the starting-point 
of a colony whose inhabitants ever considered labor alone the se- 
curity of an independent existence. 

Other points of the same coast farther to the north soon became 
peopled with a great number of small distinct societies, composed 
of mere strangers to one another, or associated with different 
objects in view, but united by the same feeling of municipal lib- 
erty, the value of which they fully appreciated. Each of these 
communities became the centre of a compact body of people 
attached to the soil, whose first care was to obtain the necessaries 
of life by cultivating the earth, thus laying the foundation of 
their future prosperity. 

The colonists designed to conquer the country, not by force of 
arms, but by means of their improvements, and the influence of 
their civilization. With the Bible in hand, the Anglican mission- 
ary founded at once the meeting-house and the factory. These 
pacific measures had a durable effect. But this course of con- 
duct did not prevent the inhabitants from inflicting severe lessons 
on the Indians in their vicinity, when they became troublesome. 

This important fact, that is to say, the difference in the means 
employed by different Europeans in the colonization of the New 
World, is associated with a circumstance equally remarkable — 
the struggle which took place between the two races from the 
north and the south of Europe, terminating in the extinction of 
the authority of the latter. 

Let us trace the details of the history of the gradual develop- 
ment of the English colonies. We must remark, in the first 
place, that the early emigrants of New England, in addition to 
their British origin, were Puritans ; that is to say, they desired 
liberty of conscience for themselves and their co-religionists. Still, 
they were animated by a spirit of the greatest intolerance towards 
others, and by excessive ambition. They carried with them the 
germ of the Anglo- Saxon- Jimerican character. Thus, the terri- 
19 



290 AMERICAN POWER. 

tory of New England, although containing comparatively few 
inhabitants when the French occupied Canada, the Dutch New 
York, and the Swedes the Delaware, already appeared too small, 
in the eyes of our insatiable Puritans, to suffice for their necessi- 
ties, for their existence, and their comfort; hence they immediately 
coveted the annexation of their neighbors' domain. 

They openly projected the conquest of New France ; the for- 
cible seizure of the Dutch colony of New York, whose inhabit- 
ants soon became confounded with the great Anglo-American 
family ; and the extension of their jurisdiction over the Swedish 
colony of Delaware, whose German and Scandinavian settlers 
served as a nucleus of the magnificent philanthropic establish- 
ment of William Penn. 

Before the close of the seventeenth century, the Anglo-Ameri- 
cans had already founded twelve distinct colonies, with a popula- 
tion of more than two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, and 
had become the real masters of the whole Atlantic coast, from the 
Bay of Fundy to Florida, The Massachusetts Bay Colony had 
been the central point of all this population, whence, as from a 
hive, it had spread with activity and indefatigable industry, 
guided by an instinctive colonizing genius, throughout this entire 
domain. 

At this period, France claimed as a conquest of her arms the 
whole American Continent, from Hudson's Bay to the mouth of 
the Mississippi, west of the great chain of the Apalachian or 
Alleghany Mountains. She had planted over this immense line, 
more than three thousand six hundred miles in extent, a few mili- 
tary posts and trading stations, with a population not exceeding 
twelve thousand. 

The presence of Spain in the southern part of the continent, 
in the territory of Florida, was indicated simply by a few feeble 
garrisons, occupying several points on the coast of the Gulf, 
and one or two on the Atlantic. 

The relative influence of the three great powers engaged in 
the colonization of America is explained by the system each pur- 
sued. The Anglo-Saxons alone enjoyed, in reality, the rights of 
free citizens — an advantage due to the municipal liberty which 
had already marked their laws and their manners. With this 
people, therefore, everything was directed by an enlightened per- 
sonal interest, which produced effects greater and more dura- 



INDEPENDENCE OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 291 

ble, and establishments more extensive, solid, and useful, than 
any produced by all the exclusive privileges accorded to the 
citizens of the other two nations. 

But it was reserved for the eighteenth century to witness the 
accomplishment of still greater wonders by the Anglo-Saxon race 
in America ! The English colonies, which, at the time of the 
Revolution of 1688, were somewhat disposed to assert their inde- 
pendence of the mother country, prepared for this great act of 
sovereignty by the practical application of the fundamental prin- 
ciples on which it was to be established. In the first place, they 
formed an alliance, offensive and defensive, against the attacks 
of the Indians on their frontier, and openly resolved the conquest 
of Canada, the better to insure the integrity of their territory. 
Thence a terrible struggle ensued between France and England 
for supremacy in America. Fortune decided in favor of Eng- 
land ; and Canada, with the rich domain of the whole north-west 
territory, fell into her power. 

During the course of these hostilities, the leaven of jealousy, 
which had, for a long time, been producing an antagonism be- 
tween the Anglo-Americans and the mother country, seemed to 
be lost in the common desire of both to dispossess a powerful 
rival of property which each coveted with equal ardor. But, 
after the peace, the elements of collision between the English 
and their descendants began to produce their wonted effects. 
Great Britain, her self-love wounded, resolved to make use of her 
authority and power ; but she lost both the one and the other. 
The Fourth of July, 1776, marked the commencement of a new 
era in the history of the world. On that ever-memorable day, 
the people of the United States, without any extraordinary provo- 
cation, moved by a sense of their own dignity, and determined to 
resist the arbitrary encroachments of the crown of England, 
strong in her acquired and acknowledged rights, declared them- 
selvesyree and independent of British domination. 

North America then became divided among four powers — 
France, England, Spain, and the American Union. 

France still retained possession of Louisiana, in the coloniza- 
tion of which she had followed the same defective system she had 
pursued in relation to Canada. She had expended immense sums 
in the foundation of this settlement, where she kept, at heavy ex- 



292 AMERICAN POWER. 

pense, strong garrisons, and a ruinous administrative personnel, 
from which she had never derived the least advantage. 

England remained mistress of the province of Canada and all 
its dependencies, where she had taken the place of France, thus 
extending her rights and prerogatives over all that had belonged 
to the founders of Acadia, Canada, and Newfoundland. 

Spain was driven still farther towards the Gulf shore by an 
American population, already advancing towards that latitude. 

The American Union, composed of thirteen independent States, 
claimed all the territory between New Brunswick and Florida, 
and between the shores of the Atlantic and the chain of the 
Alleghanies, which some American pioneers had already crossed, 
to range the Valley of the Mississippi. Her population did not 
then exceed four millions. 

From that period, the progress of the Americans towards the 
wilds of the interior is truly surprising. Though seventy years 
have scarcely elapsed, the Union is composed of thirty inde- 
pendent States, and of twenty-one million freemen. Extending 
their pacific conquests more than twelve hundred miles over the 
rich lands of the west, the American people have crossed the 
Alleghany Mountains, reached the borders of the great Lakes at 
the north, and the Gulf of Mexico at the south, and thus, after 
having bought Florida and Louisiana, occupy the vast Valley of 
the Mississippi from its sources to its mouth. 

In a short time, the tide of successive emigrations will fertilize 
this immense valley, and all the rich country dependent on it, 
will reach the base of the Rocky Mountains, and, crossing them, 
advance towards the tranquil waters of the great ocean; and then 
spread along the Cordilleras which divide California from the Rio 
Grande del J^orte. As a consequence of this last manifestation of 
their incomparable instinct for colonization, the Americans have 
extended the south-west frontier of the Republic from the shores 
of the Sabine to those of the Rio Grande del JYorte. They have 
laid the foundation of a powerful State beyond the Rocky Mount- 
ains, and they regard the shores of the great ocean as the only 
limits the Republic can henceforth recognize towards the setting 
sun; whilst the north and the south present a vast field for the 
future ! In fine, such are, in 1848, the gigantic proportions of 
the American Union — a Colossus, whose head we perceive com- 
ing out of the mists which cover the polar regions, whose feet 



PROSPECTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 293 

extend as far as the Isthmus of Panama ; while with one arm he 
threatens Europe by means of the Atlantic, and grasps with the 
other, through the great ocean, the rich archipelagos and the con- 
tinents of Asia. 

Thus, within a short period, the Anglo-American race has 
become firmly established on a territory comprising more than 
seventeen hundred million acres ; consequently, exceeding four- 
teen times that of France. It has consigned its ancient rulers to 
a position beyond the St. Lawrence, where their situation to- 
wards the United States is similar to that which France, during 
her possession of Canada, occupied towards the English colo- 
nies ; that is to say, on the left shore of the St. Lawrence, aris- 
tocratic and monarchichal principles are in juxtaposition with 
democratic principles on the neighboring shore. 

Therefore, it is possible to predict the consequences of such a 
political and geographical position. The River St. Lawrence, 
essentially American, which must of necessity become the outlet 
into the Atlantic of that great line of communication and naviga- 
tion opened by the Lakes and the Mississippi, will, ere long, be 
controlled by the American democracy; for it cannot be denied 
that American policy is identical with that of England, as well 
in its origin as in its objects. But English policy benefits only a 
small number of individuals, invested with all the power and all 
the wealth of the country. Whatever may be the result of a 
given foreign policy, the people always remain in the greatest 
wretchedness, the slaves of an oppressive oligarchy. On the 
other hand, American policy benefits the entire nation, which 
actively participates in all the projects of the government, as wejl 
in their accomplishment as in their results. 

If we go back to the early history of the American people, we 
see the Anglo-Saxon race, from which they have descended, per- 
severingly pursue, from the day of its arrival on the American 
Continent, that policy of encroachment and violence which ren- 
dered its presence so dangerous to its neighbors, who, much 
more peaceably inclined, were far less skilled in the iniquitous 
science of spoliation. This policy has constantly shown itself 
egotistical and cruel, ambitious and despotic. It manifested itself 
under the banners of St. George, and, without any modification, 
has passed under the flag of the American Union. Let us not 
then be astonished at the prodigies it has enabled the Americans 



294 AMERICAN POWER. 

to achieve. Influenced by the dogmas of democracy, whose aim is 
individual interest, I see no limits to their progress but the ocean, 
the dominion of which they will one day dispute with England ; 
no barrier but the influence of the principles of the Christian reli- 
gion, which may yet exercise a certain control over the actions of 
a people so enlightened, and bring them back to the sound doc- 
trines which alone enabled their venerable ancestors to triumph 
in the great struggle for liberty in 1776. 

To the south and towards the west of the Mississippi, the only 
territory contiguous to the United States was the ancient Spanish 
province of Mexico. This was still under Spanish domination, 
when the cabinet of Madrid, in 1821, was compelled to cede to 
that of Washington the territory of Florida, where its authority 
was no longer respected. At the same time, an Anglo-American, 
Moses Austin, obtained permission to found a colony in a deserted 
territory belonging to Mexico. This was the first sign of inva- 
sion, by the Anglo-Americans, of the fertile regions watered by 
the Colorado, discovered by the unfortunate La Salle. Fifteen 
years later, in 1836, a new American colony was constituted, and 
conquered its independence by a brilliant victory! 

The United States, at that period, considered it unadvisable to 
admit this State into the Union. The fear that it would disturb 
the political balance between the North and the South alone pre- 
vented its admission. In my opinion, consideration of the ques- 
tion was only postponed to a more opportune moment. But 
Texas was not the less an independent American State, destined 
to rival in prosperity the Southern States of the Union. With a 
territory comprising more than one hundred and twenty-one 
million acres, and extending from the twenty-sixth to the thirty- 
fourth parallel, it possesses extraordinary physical advantages. 
Richness of soil is combined with a climate adapted to every 
species of culture, from the grain of northern latitudes to the 
productions peculiar to the tropics. Texas, moreover, has had 
the wisdom to adopt liberal institutions, modeled on those of the 
United States, which, under the practical guidance of Americans, 
insure its independence and prosperity. 

Texas was annexed to the American Union in 1846. By this 
act of profound policy, the Anglo-Americans have extended their 
dominion to the Rio Bravo del Norte. The war with Mexico, 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 295 

which followed this annexation, placed the destinies of the em- 
pire of the Montezumas in their hands, and enlargf^d the bounda- 
ries of the United States by the whole of Upper California, and 
a part of New Mexico. But it occasioned heavy expenses — a 
disadvantage, it is true, counterbalanced by a prospective aug- 
mentation of wealth exceeding the expenditure tenfold. Its im- 
mediate result has been the prevention of European interference 
on the American Continent. But, prominent above everything, is 
the fact that it has advanced, more than a century, the march of 
civilization throughout one of the richest portions of the world ! 
Hence, we may now venture to predict that, at a time not far 
distant, the American race will cover the immense territory lying 
between the polar icebergs and the tropics, between the borders 
of the Atlantic and the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

Thus, it is proved by incontestable historical facts that the 
preponderance of the Anglo-Americans over all the other nations 
established anteriorly to, or simultaneously with, them in the 
New World, is attributable to the characteristics of the race from 
which they sprang, to their own distinctive genius, and, above 
all, to the religious and democratic principles which have at all 
times formed the fundamental basis of the American character. 

If the various facts recorded in this historical summary have 
been attentively remarked, the difference in the policy respect- 
ively pursued by the two great nations which have ultimately 
shared North America must have been observed — a difference 
which is still stamped in all their acts, their form of government, 
their literature, and their religion. An immense void, then, 
separates these two nations, to fill which appears to me an 
impracticable task. But the sober reader must have found in 
this study an important suVjject for reflection relative to the 
struggles that may again arise to divide the world. That is, 
although the English and American nations are identical in their 
origin, and in relation to the objects each proposes to attain, yet 
are they essentially different in the vital principles of their poli- 
tical organizations. 

In England, the landed aristocracy direct affairs. In the United 
States, the great democratic mass is agricultural. Between these 
two classes it is impossible to find a single idea, a single sentiment 
in common. The men who thus possess equal rights, who enjoy 
universal suffrage, and therefore a common responsibility, in 



296 AMERICAN POWER. 

all ranks of society — who have, above all, a sovereign contempt 
for hereditary right, and generally manifest but little confidence 
in the wisdom of their ancestors — can never live in harmony with 
the English. The legislation of the United States, and the 
method according to which intercourse with foreign nations is 
conducted, have an origin entirely different from those of Eng- 
land. The diplomatists of England and the United States have 
been raised in schools of diametrically opposite character. 
Should they meet, they would not be able to understand each 
other. 

There is not the least affinity in the elements of these two forms 
of government. Their policy, however, is eminently pacific, and 
all occasions of hostility are carefully avoided. But should wars 
arise, they will be conducted with unusual energy, because the 
hatred of the Americans towards the English is more inveterate 
than towards any other nation. Thus, an immense void will one 
day separate these two commercial nations, which, springing 
from one stock, a community of origin, language, and religious 
opinions ought to bring together. 



PART II. 

MILITARY, AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND INDUSTRIAL 
RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



I HAVE exhibited the origin and the institutions of the Ameri- 
cans, and the struggles by which they have made themselves 
masters of the principal portion of the immense continent of 
North America. 

I shall now describe their system of national defence, their 
military resources, and the influence which their origin, their geo- 
graphical position, and especially their political institutions, have 
exerted upon them as an agricultural, commercial, and industrial 
people. 



CHAPTER I. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



Origin of the national defence — First project of it embodied in the Constitution of 
1787 — Circumstances unfavorable to its accomplishment — The fourteenth 
Congress orders its establishment — Arrival of General Bernard in the United 
States — Organization of a Board for the National Defence — Its labors — Military 
reconnoissance of the interior, and of the maritime frontier of the Union — 
General plan adopted for the defence of the coast — Elements of this American 
system. 

If we assume war to be the primary condition of mankind in 
the ages of barbarism, the science of defence, as a means of pre- 
serving and maintaining independence and internal tranquillity, 



298 AMERICAN POWER. 

must necessarily be the starting-point of an era of civilization 
where peace becomes a primary object. In order that man may 
profitably abandon himself to the inspirations of civilization, and 
to the progress of every department of knowledge his genius is 
prompted to develop, individual security is of the first import- 
ance. The first duty of a people, in their march towards civili- 
zation, is to secure their national independence. This duty 
becomes more sacred and imperious where a free people are con- 
cerned, because to retain freedom their territory must be placed 
in a condition to repel all invasion and all aggression. In this 
case, the measures adopted for common security must necessa- 
rily add to the strength of the links that bind together every 
part of the social body. Wholly directed against apprehension 
from abroad, these parts of the social system become mutually 
essential for the conservation of every interest. 

Such were the views that directed the wise legislators who 
framed the ever-memorable Constitution of the United States. 
The necessity of a common defence served as the basis of the 
federal compact, and of the organization of the American Union. 
A combination of the active strength of the thirteen colonies was 
decreed, and a federal power created. Among the powers con- 
ceded to this general assembly by the Constitution of 1787, we 
find the following : — 

" Congress shall have power to provide and maintain a navy ; 
to raise and support armies; to organize a militia; and to pro- 
vide for the common defence and the general welfare." 

Nevertheless, these sound legislative provisions were not im- 
mediately carried out by reason of the exigencies of the times, 
and of the all-engrossing war in which the Confederation had 
been engaged against Great Britain. But the nation had come out 
of this great struggle triumphantly — a struggle for which it had 
been in no wise prepared. It had effected its independence, but 
its credit was considerably shaken by the immense debt neces- 
sarily incurred. 

The Union profited by the peace so dearly bought by seeking, 
with the utmost perseverance, to attain the highest possible degree 
of prosperity. She was pursuing this course with rare intelli- 
gence when the war with England, in 1812,* found her in as un- 

* The United States declared war against England on the 19th of June, 
1812. 



SYSTEM OF NATIONAL DEFENCE. 299 

prepared a state as she was in the first war. She was again con- 
strained to defend her immense territory against a powerful army, 
animated with the hope of repossessing Britain's ancient colo- 
nies, or at least firmly determined to inflict upon them all possible 
injury. 

The courage of the Americans, sustained by a feeling of 
profound attachment to their institutions, as well as by hatred of 
British domination, supplied the want of preparation of means of 
defence. Victory remained with the defenders of liberty and 
independence ; but it was dearly bought. 

At the peace of 1814, the nation again found itself burdened 
with an immense debt ; but its strength and resources had in- 
creased, and the national feeling acquired renewed energy : for 
the moral effect of a war is to strengthen the attachment of a free 
people to their institutions in proportion to the sacrifices these 
institutions have required ; and the physical effect is to develop 
resources hitherto greatly neglected, or deemed unavailable. 

Such, to the American Union, were the consequences of this 
war. Her treasury was seriously affected — soon, however, to be 
replenished by additional revenues. 

The experience of the past had not been unfruitful to the Ameri- 
cans of the second period. In the event of another conflict with 
a maritime power, the nation resolved to be better prepared, not 
only to repel aggression on its territory, but to enforce the respect 
due to the United States as one of the great powers of the world. 

The Congress of 1816 unanimously adopted the wise previ- 
sions of 1787, and thus presented to the world a great and noble 
example of what a free people can do when they will to accom- 
plish any result. 

We must acknowledge that this unanimity in the councils of 
the State relative to the accomplishment of so great a national 
act is attributable to the fact that free institutions had surrounded 
the cradle of the American people-; that, consequently, as the 
intellectual faculties of this people had been early developed, they 
had turned their experience to the benefit of society, by instilling 
vigor into political action through the adoption of means of na- 
tional defence. 

In the first session of the fourteenth Congress, during the Pre- 
sidency of James Madison, in 1816, Congress passed an act to 
establish a series of permanent fortifications ; to organize the 



300 AMERICAN POWER. 

army; and to provide for the gradual increase of the navy. Ap- 
propriations were immediately granted for this purpose, which 
have been subsequently continued from year to year. 

In consequence of these legislative proceedings, the President 
of the United States was authorized, by a special act, to employ 
a French officer of high grade, and of tried talents and expe- 
rience — the protracted wars of the Empire affording a guarantee 
that such an officer could be found in the French army. General 
Bernard, aid-de-camp to Napoleon, and chief of the Topographi- 
cal Bureau, was the person selected,* 

Soon after the arrival of General Bernard in the United States, 
a board composed of engineers and officers of the navy was 
appointed to inquire into the means of determining the best 
system of national defence. 

To fulfil the important task with which the nation had en- 
trusted it, the Board immediately commenced a careful recon- 
noissance of the whole frontier of the Union, as well on the At- 
lantic as on the Gulf of Mexico ; of its principal geographical 
and hydrographical peculiarities ; of the existing means of com- 
munication between the vast regions of the west with the Eastern 
States ; it surveyed, in fine, the chain of lakes which separates 
the northern portion of the Union from the British Possessions in 
America. 

After this primary and indispensable labor, the Board began to 
combine, to study, and to apply on the spot the material means of 
defence, the general basis of which, after having been thoroughly 

* General Bernard was appointed chief of the Topographical Bureau 
during the Hundred Days. The Emperor, at this memorable period, com- 
mitted to his charge an important work, no less than that of drafting for 
active service, and in the shortest possible time, all the national guards of 
the empire. The Emperor believed, after having struck the first blow at 
the heads of the columns advancing towards the capital, that he could em- 
ploy these citizen forces to drive back the hordes that had dared to pass 
the frontiers of France. The disasters of Waterloo prevented the con- 
summation of this great conception, the tradition of which should be 
religiously preserved for future generations. General Bernard had the 
good fortune to find in the United States the elements by which the 
New World could realize all the benefit derivable from the conception of 
the Emperor. The plan is among the archives of the American Republic, 
and may readily be put in practice when the safety of the nation shall re- 
quire it. 



GENERAL BERNARD. 301 

discussed by each member, was unanimously determined. To 
the principal members of the Board was confided the care of 
studying all these projects in detail. 

The Board assumed, as the basis of the system proposed, 
that, in a free country, constituted like the United States, the 
national defence ought to rest on a foundation supported by the 
navy, by fortifications, by means of communication by land and 
water, and by a regular army and an organized militia. 

That, after the navy, the militia should be called on for active 
co-operation ; that, to render their co-operation effective, fortifi- 
cations were required, as well for a place of shelter as for the 
means of checking the invasion of an enemy. 

That all the points on the coast not being equally vulnerable 
or important, permanent defences ought to be commenced at 
points presenting at the same time the greatest inducements to 
an enemy, and the most important positions for the navy, as har- 
bors of safety and rendezvous. 

The Board also unanimously recognized the necessity of first 
employing the resources of the State to protect the coast by forti- 
fications on the Gulf of Mexico, and especially on the delta of 
the Mississippi. 

With the object, therefore, of drawing up plans for this frontier, 
General Bernard commenced his honorable mission. Heedless 
of exposure to the dangerous climate of Louisiana, and the sickly 
miasma of the Mississippi marshes, he repaired thither immedi- 
ately on his arrival in the United States, and there remained two 
years, the better to perform his duties. The sense of duty in 
him assumed almost a religious character. 

In the conception of the various projects concerning this im- 
mense system of defence and commercial communication, Gene- 
ral Bernard had a splendid opportunity of developing his rare 
talents, and his deep and varied information as an engineer. He 
sought to direct his European military mind to democratic institu- 
tions, to.the commercial habits of the nation which did him the 
honor to call him into its service, so as personally to contribute to 
one of the most gigantic works that had ever been conceived or 
executed. 

He traced all the roads, canals, and means of communication 
which were to bind together every part of the Union. He pro- 
jected the greater number of those fortresses which will place a 



302 AMERICAN POWER. 

frontier more than three thousand miles in extent beyond the 
power of invasion. 

All the fortifications were planned with a view to render the de- 
fence as efficacious as possible without exciting the apprehensions 
of the people relative to the safety of their liberty, or interfering 
with their commercial habits. General Bernard gave them all 
the development strictly required for adequate defence, and so 
arranged the interior as to afford courageous defenders, in case of 
ineffectual resistance, the means of insuring an honorable capitu- 
lation. 

By these dispositions, so ably combined, it cannot be denied 
that General Bernard saved the United States an immense sum, 
which it would have been forced to expend, had it not profited by 
the experience which the long wars of Europe had given to the 
engineers of the Old World. 

The great merit of the system of defence adopted by the Ame- 
ricans is that it protects the great centres of population and 
commerce in the Union, and extends its protection over all the 
great water-courses, the outlets of commerce and of the rich 
productions of American industry, and turns to account all the 
resources of the nation. The elements of which it is composed 
are inseparable, for the numerous relations which exist between 
them are essential to form a whole, without which we could attri- 
bute no excellence to the system. Each -part contributes to the 
general effect ; each element is indispensable to the efficiency of 
the others. Suppress the navy, and the defence becomes passive. 
Cut off the lines of communication of the system, and the navy 
ceases to act effectively, since it will then suffer for want of sup- 
plies. Fortifications would offer but feeble resistance, if not pro- 
visioned in time, and supplied with men and munitions of war. 
Again, if the fortifications were abandoned, the navy, compelled 
to divide its forces to defend the coasts, would lose its unity of 
action. 

It is thus evident that the work of defence would not be com- 
plete without the simultaneous concurrence of a given number 
of equally indispensable elements. But an immense advantage 
of the system adopted is its harmony with the civil and political 
institutions of the country, since, in constituting a material 
guarantee of the inviolability of the American territory, it con- 



NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 303 

tributes to extend the sphere of the usefulness of the Union both 
at home and abroad. 

I purpose, in the following chapters, to treat separately and 
consecutively of each element of the national defence. 



CHAPTER II. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 
NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Its gradual organization, and present importance — Its effective strength — Yards for 
building and repairs — Ports of shelter — Roadsteads. 

The Anglo-Americans did not possess a navy prior to the War 
of the Revolution. Their commerce was then naturally under 
the protection of the navy of England. Nevertheless, as the 
coasts of New England and America were, at this period, infested 
with pirates, and as some of the colonies were at open war with 
the French, in possession of Canada and Acadia, they had armed 
a few vessels with the twofold object of protecting their coast 
and annoying their neighbors. 

When, in 1745, the colony of Massachusetts, assisted by the 
Connecticut and Rhode Island colonies, attacked Louisburg, the 
Anglo-Americans had thirteen armed vessels in their service. 

In 1758, the commerce of New York supported forty-eight pri- 
vateers, carrying in all six hundred and ninety-five guns and five 
thousand five hundred and sixty men. In 1776, it armed several 
ships to act against the commerce of the mother country. One 
of these vessels, the Liberty^ commanded by Joseph Wheaton, 
became celebrated on account of the number of prizes it took 
from the English. 

Petitions were, at this period, presented to the National Con- 
gress for the organization of a naval force. Congress ordered the 
construction of ten vessels, of which only five were built, and 
issued letters of marque. A number of privateers sailed from the 
ports of Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland, and thus in- 



304 AMERICAN POWER. 

creased the naval force of the Americans. The largest vessel in 
the navy carried only thirty guns. 

However, Congress passed another act, authorizing the con- 
struction of three ships of seventy-four guns. Of these, only one 
was built, which was offered to the King of France as indemnity 
for one he had lost in the service of the United States. 

In the third year of the War of the Revolution, when the naval 
force was at its maximum, there were only fifteen public armed 
vessels or privateers. 

Notwithstanding this disproportion in the naval force, the 
Americans continued to cruize in all the seas where English 
merchant vessels were found; and even ventured on the coast of 
Africa. They succeeded in capturing a greater number of prizes 
than American commerce could afford the English. 

Among the names of the brave men who distinguished them- 
selves on the ocean in this protracted struggle, such as the 
Nicholsons, the Barneys, Tucker, Thompson, Whipple, Rath- 
bone, Maters, Cunningham, and others, Paul Jones, the cele- 
brated commander of the privateer Mfred^ was justly the most 
distinguished. After cruising seven months in the seas of Europe, 
he returned to Rhode Island with sixteen prizes. 

It would appear, from the annals of that period, that no 
national colors had been adopted by Congress until the 14th of 
July, 1777. It was then ordered that thirteen alternate red and 
white stripes, symbolizing the thirteen confederated colonies, and 
thirteen white stars in a blue field, as an insignia of the new 
constellation which was soon to rise in the midst of nations, 
should be the national colors of the American Union. 

In the course of this year, Paul Jones sailed from Plymouth, 
in the Ranger^ on a mission to France. This was the first public 
armed vessel, under the new national flag, that had ever entered a 
foreign port. Consequently, on its arrival at Brest, it was saluted 
as the flag of an ally and of a free and independent nation. 

Paul Jones, having delivered his dispatches, immediately put 
to sea, and made a descent on the coast of England. He 
anchored at White Haven, landed, spiked the guns of the fort, 
and would certainly have set fire to and destroyed all the vessels 
in port, had his orders been properly obeyed. On leaving the 
harbor, he captured an English armed vessel of superior force, 
and returned to Brest with his prize. 



FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 305 

France, about this period, conceived the idea of making a 
descent on the coast of England. Paul Jones was to have 
had command of the naval force, and General Lafayette of the 
troops, required for the enterprise ; but unforeseen circumstances 
prevented the attempt. It was then that Paul Jones took com- 
mand of a vessel of forty guns, the famous Bonhom77ie Richard, 
thus named in honor of the celebrated almanac of Franklin. 

With this vessel, he captured the Pallas and the Duchess of 
Scarborough; but his vessel had been so crippled in his engage- 
ment with the former that it foundered a short time after he 
abandoned it. Congress, on his return to the United States, gave 
him the command of the seventy-four which had been presented 
to the King of France. The administration of the American 
navy was then in the hands of committees of Congress. This 
system being found defective, a single committee, named that of 
admiralty, composed of five members, three of whom were not 
members of the House, was entrusted with the management of 
naval affairs. In 1781, the system was again modified. A 
department of state or foreign affairs was then created, which 
was invested with the control of the navy. 

After the Revolution, the sailors were discharged, and the 
Union was left without a navy. 

But in a short time American commerce was again exposed to 
the depredations of pirates. The central government was there- 
fore compelled to engage a certain number of armed vessels in 
its service, which were stationed on the coasts of New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. This 
force was composed of 365 vessels, of 66,691 tons burden, 
carrying 2,723 guns. It was manned by 6,847 sailors. 

In 1800,* the administration of the navy was separated from 
the department of foreign affairs, and transferred to that of the 
treasury. 

In 1801,f Congress organized a separate department for the ad- 
ministration of the navy ; Benjamin Stoddart| was the first Secre- 

* The navy department was established as a separate bureau ia 1798. 
— Tr. 

t See preceding note. — Tr. 

i George Cabot was .appointed 3d May, 1798, but declined, and Benja- 
min Stoddart was appointed in his place on the 21st of May, 1798. — Tr. 
20 



306 AMERICAN POWER. 

tary of the Navy. Upon his recommendation, the details of the 
service were entrusted to a Board of Navy Commissioners,* the 
senior officer being president of the Board. This Board often came 
in conflict with the Secretary of State. It could scarcely have 
been otherwise in a country where, by the spirit of its insti- 
tutions, each public officer has legal rights by which he must be 
governed in the performance of his duty. The feeling of passive 
submission is unknown among individuals in American society. 
The law points out the relative position of each person in the 
various branches of the public service. Unless that is clearly 
defined, each functionary interprets it as he understands it, and 
consequently endeavors to make himself independent of his 
superior. 

In 1809, the naval force of the United States consisted of 
seven frigates of forty-four guns, and two of thirty-two guns ; 
two sloops of twenty guns ; five brigs of sixteen guns ; three 
schooners often and twelve guns; and one hundred and seventy 
gun-boats, with one gun on a pivot. The latter drew very little 
water, and were supplied with sweeps, for calm weather. They 
were recommended by Jeffi^rson for the defence of the coast and 
the mouths of rivers. 

The navy was the same in 1812, when the United States 
declared war against Great Britain. 

Notwithstanding this apparent weakness, the largest vessel car- 
rying only forty-four guns, American vessels navigated the North 
Seas, crossed the ocean, and frequented the shores of the Pacific, 
in defiance of the numerous English vessels that covered every 
sea. 

War was declared on the 19th of June, 1812. Immediately, 
forty-three privateers left the ports of New York and Baltimore, 
carrying in all one hundred and ninety-four guns, and two thou- 
sand two hundred and thirty men. 

During the continuance of the war, the number of vessels in 
the navy, exclusive of the gun-boats, was increased to fifty-eight. 
The largest ship then in service was a frigate of fifty- eight guns.f 

* The author is in error. The Board of Navy Commissioners was ap- 
pointed for the first time, by act of Congress, on the 7th of February, 
1815.— Tr. 

t The President, Constitution, and United States frigates -were the 
largest, and carried only fifty-four guns, — Tr. 



VESSELS COMPOSING THE UNITED STATES NAVY. 307 

Congress ordered the construction of three ships of the line, to 
carry seventy-four guns ; and four frigates of the first, and five 
of the second class. 

In that great struggle sustained by the Americans against the 
English, their powerful enenay, in defence of their principle that 
the flag of a nation protects its merchandize, their navy per- 
formed prodigies of valor. 

The brave Captain Hull began that series of victories so glo- 
riously continued by Lawrence, Perry, Decatur, Porter, Morris, 
Warrington, &c. 

This second war established the reputation, and consolidated 
the power, of the navy of the United States, which from that day 
received the fostering care of the nation. Congress was com- 
pelled to bestow attention on its permanent organization, and in- 
sure it the means of working out its high destinies. 

In 1816, Congress passed a law for the gradual increase of the 
navy; from which time considerable suras have been expended, 
and still continue to be annually appropriated for this object. 

The United States Navy is now composed of seventy-seven 
vessels of all classes, exclusive of those destined for the defence 
of the Lakes. 

LIST OF VESSELS COMPOSING THE UNITED STATES 
NAVY.* 



THIRTEEN SHIPS OF THE LINE OF THE FIRST CLASS. 

When built. Where stationed. 





Guns 


Pennsylvania . 


120 


Franklin 


74 


Washingtonf . 


74 


Columbus 


74 


Ohio 


74 


North Carolina 


74 


Delaware 


74 


Alabama 


74 


Vermont 


74 


Virginia 


74 


New York 


74 


Independence (Kaze 


e) 54 


New Orleans 


74 



* We have inserted the above 1 

stead of that given by the author 

t Broken up as unfit for repairs 



1837 


Norfolk. 


1815 


Boston. 


1816 


New York. 


1819 


Norfolk. 


1820 


Pacific Ocean. 


1820 


New York. 


1820 . 


Norfolk. 


On the stocks. 


Portsmouth, N. H 


1848 


Boston. 


On the stocks. 


Boston. 


On the stocks. 


Norfolk. 


1814 




On the stocks 


. Sacket's Harbor. 



st from the Navy Register for 1849, in- 
— Tr. 
Tr. 



308 



AMERICAN POWER. 



TWELVE FIRST CLASS FRIGATES. 





Guns. 


When built. 


Where stationed. 


United States . 


44 


1797 


Norfolk. 


Constitution . 


44 


1797 


Mediterranean. 


Potomac 


44 


1821 


Norfolk. 


Brandywine . 


44 


1825 


Coast of Brazil. 


Columbia 


44 


1836 


Norfolk. 


Congress 


44 


1841 


Norfolk. 


Cumberland . 


44 


1842 


New York, 


Savannah 


44 


1842 


Pacific. 


Raritan 


44 


1843 


Home Squadron. 


St. Lawrence . 


44 


1847 


European Seas. 


Santee 


44 


On the stocks. 




Sabine 


44 


On the stocks. 




Java, Hudson, and ( 


jruerriere — broke 


Q up. 






TWO SECOND CLASS FRIGATES. 




Constellation 


36 . . 


1797 


Norfolk. 


Macedonian 

SI] 


36 . 

ETEEN FIRST CLASS 


1836 

SLOOPS OF WAE 


New York. 


John Adams . 


20 


1820 


Boston. 


Vincennes 


20 


1826 


New York. 


Warren 


20 


1826 


Pacific, 


Falmouth 


20 


1827 


Boston. 


Fairfield 


20 


1828 


Norfolk, 


Vandalia 


20 


1828 


Norfolk. 


St. Louis 


20 


1828 


Coast of Brazil. 


Cyane 


20 


1837 


Norfolk. 


Levant 


20 


1837 


Norfolk. 


Saratoga 


20 


1842 


Home Squadron. 


Portsmouth 


20 


1843 


Coast of Africa. 


Plymouth 


20 


1843 


East Indies. 


St. Mary's 


20 


1844 


Pacific. 


Jamestown 


20 


1844 


Mediterranean. 


Albany 


20 


1846 


Home Squadron 


Gerraantown . 


20 


1846 


Home Squadron 


Boston, 20 ; Concor 

SI3 


d, 20; Peacock, 

: SECOND AND THI 


18 — wrecked. 

RD CLASS SLOOPS 


. 


Ontario 


18 


1813 


Baltimore. 


Decatur 


16 


1839 


Coast of Africa. 


Yorktown 


16 


1839 


Coast of Africa. 


Preble . 


16 


1839 


Pacific. 


Marion . 


16 


1839 


Boston. 


Dale 


16 


1839 


Pacific. 



VESSELS IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY. 



309 



Boxer 

Dolphin 

Porpoise 

Bainbridge 

Perry 



Flirt 
Phoenix 
Petrel 
Fancy 



Mississippi 

Susquehanna 

Powhatan 

Saranac 

San Jacinto 

Fulton . 

Union 

Princeton 

Michigan 

Alleghany 

Vixen 

Water Witch 

General Taylor 

Engineer 



Relief . 

Erie 

Lexington 

Southampton 

Fredonia 

Supply . 



FIVE BRIGS. 




Guns. 


When built. 


Where stationed. 


10 


1831 


Philadelphia. 


10 


1836 


East Indies. 


10 


1836 


Coast of Africa. 


10 


1842 


Coast of Africa. 


10 


1843 


Coast of Brazil. 


FOUR SCHOONERS. 




2 




Coast Survey. 


2 




Coast Survey. 


1 




Coast Survey. 


1 




Mediterranean. 


FOURTEEN STEAMERS. 




10 


1841 


Norfolk. 


10 


On the stocks 


Philadelphia. 


10 


On the stocks 


Norfolk. 


10 


1848 


Portsmouth, N. H 


10 


On the stocks 


New York. 


4 . . 


1837 


New York. 


4 


1842 


Philadelphia. 


9 


1843 


Mediterranean. 


1 


1844 


Lake Erie. 


2 


1847 


Mediterranean. 


3 


1846 


Home Squadron. 


1 


1845 


Home Squadron. 


1 


1848 


Pensacola. 


1 


1843 


Norfolk. 


SIX STORE 


SHIPS. 




6 


1836 


Coast of BraziL 


4 


1813 


Mediterranean. 


6 


1825 


Pacific. 


4 


1845 


Pacific. 


4 


1846 


Pacific. 


4 


1846 


Mediterranean. 



These vessels, for the most part, carry more guns than they are 
rated to carry. The seventy-fours carry from 80 to 90 guns. 
The only three-decked vessel in the United States Navy is the 
Pennsylvania, which carries 120 guns. The first class frigates 
carry from 54 to 64 guns, and those of the second class 48 guns; 
the first class sloops carry 24, and the second class 22 guns. The 



310 AMERICAN POWER. 

brigs and schooners from 12 to 14 guns, and the others from 1 
to 6.* 

It must not be supposed, from the above list, that the navy of 
the United States presents no stronger force than 2166 guns ; this 
number is but nominal, as the real number may be estimated at 
double that rate. 

The following is the armament of these vessels, according to 
the class to which they belong: — 

FIRST CLASS SHIPS OF THE LINE. 

Cannon. 

8 eight-inch Paixhans. 
28 forty-two pounders on the lower gun-deck. 
28 thirty-two pounders on the main-deck. 
24 thirty-two pound carronades on the spar-deck. 

2 forty-two pounders (long) on the forecastle. 

90 guns of every calibre. 

Ammunition and Small Arms. 
337,737 pounds of cannon ball. 
18,794 pounds of hollow-shot. 
46,556 pounds of powder. 
320 powder flasks. 
220 muskets. 
220 pistols. 
100 battle lanterns. 
90 percussion locks. 
300 boarding pikes. 
280 cutlasses. 

FIRST CLASS FRIGATE. 

Its armament is composed of 52 guns, of which 4 are eight-inch Paix- 
hans, 28 thirty-two pounders, and 20 forty-two pounders. Ammunition in 
proportion. 

FIRST CLASS SLOOP. 

Armament composed of 22t guns, of which 2 are eight-inch Paixhans, 
and 20 thirty-two pounders. 

The Americans seem to march in advance of other nations, 
in the power and dimensions of their steamers. The Mississippi 



* This is a mistake with reference to sloops and brigs. None carry 
more than they are rated to carry. — Tr. 

t Only twenty guns, including four eight-inch Paixhans. — Tr. 



PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NAVY. 311 

and Missouri, lately built, are of 1680 tons burden, and 800 
horse power. They measure 229 feet 8 inches in length, 41 feet 
6 inches in breadth, and 24 feet 6 inches in depth. With the 
requisite machinery, armament, and provisions on board, 2700 
tons are displaced. Each of these steamers cost upwards of 
450,000 dollars. Their speed is superior to that of any sea 
steamers heretofore built, going, on the River Delaware, at the rate 
of twenty miles an hour.* 

Each of these steamers carries 10 Paixhan guns, 8 sixty-eight 
pounders, and 2 one hundred and twenty pounders. 

To this effectual force must be added that on the lakes; the 
armed steamers and sail vessels in the revenue service ; five 
steamers of 2000 tons burden, running between Liverpool and 
New York; five of equal size between New York and Chagres, 
touching at Saverraol and New Orleans; and the steamers in- 
tended for a regular line in the Pacific, between Peru and the 
new American provinces of Oregon. 

But, independently of all the conditions which will henceforth 
place the navy in a respectable position, immense supplies of 
timber, iron, hemp, tar, and all other materials used for the con- 
struction and equipment of vessels, are collected in the principal 
navy yards of the Republic, thus affording ample facilities for the 
immediate augmentation of the navy at any given period. 

If to all these disposable materials be added the advantages 
of constantly possessing, in the country, supplies of all kinds, 
and skillful mechanics for the execution of all its work in the 
public yards, we may judge with what facility the government 
can at all times be prepared for all the casualties of war. 

Finally, if we compare the navies of England, France, and the 
United States, we shall, it is true, find that the latter is at present 
evidently inferior to both of the former; but, if we consider the 
immense advantage the United States possesses in its excellent 
nursery for seamen, that is to say its commercial marine, this 
inferiority witt be seen to be more apparent than real. 

In fact, the commercial marine of the United States is com- 
posed of 20,000 vessels, whose burden is estimated at 2,500,000 
tons. It employs from 110,000 to 120,000 sailors. That of 
England is composed of 22,112 vessels, with a burden of 

* A mistake both as to the dimensions and speed of these vessels. — Tr. 



312 AMERICAN POWER. 

3,067,425 tons. This difference is more fictitious than real, and 
may be attributed to the different methods by which the tonnage 
of the two countries is determined. If these methods rested on 
the same basis, the tonnage of the two countries would prove to 
be very nearly the same. 

The commercial marine of France consists only of 10,845 
vessels, with a burden of 589,507 tons. 

American commerce, then, secures the navy of the United 
States a marked relative superiority over the navies of England 
and France. 

These circumstances are favorable to the navy, since they 
afford the opportunity of selecting men who not only enter a 
service with which they are familiar, but enter it voluntarily. 
The United States service is much less laborious than the mer- 
chant service, and is equally well paid; and its invalids, with 
their widows or orphans, are provided for. We may thus com- 
prehend the advantage possessed by the government of selecting 
for this service only picked men. 

The American marine employs 10,842 persons, of whom 
10,142 belong to the navy, as I have shown in my work on 
Democracy in America^ published by M. Gosselin in 1841, to 
which I refer for the details of the organization of this service. 

In 1841, Congress passed an act establishing a Home Squadron 
for the protection of the immense coast of the United States. 

This judicious measure, proposed by a Southern member of 
Congress, was unanimously adopted, without distinction of party, 
thus furnishing another example that the Americans unite in a 
solid phalanx relative to everything that tends to conserve the 
integrity of their country, or the safety of their institutions. 

This squadron consists of eight ships of war, two of which 
are steamers. It is commanded by one of the most experienced 
senior officers of the navy. It must necessarily tend to give 
completeness to the national defence. 

The United States constantly holds five squadrons' in commis- 
sion, viz. : in the Mediterranean; on the coast of Brazil ; in the 
Pacific ; in the East Indies ; and on ihe coast of Africa. Each 
of these squadrons is composed of four ships, except that on the 
coast of Africa, which has but three.* 

* These squadrons are not limited with respect to the number of ships. 
Their size varies according to circumstances. — Tk. 



NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE NAVY. 313 

It has two foreign naval depots for supplies ; one at Port 
Mahon in the Mediterranean ; the other at Rio Janeiro, in Brazil. 

At the present time, the Americans devote their attention to the 
augmentation of their navy, which is the only power that is not 
likely to wound the democratic susceptibilities of the people. 
The defects of its administration required a remedy. In 1842, 
Congress abolished the Board of Navy Commissioners, and 
established in its stead five different bureaus, under the control 
of the Secretary of the Navy. By this new organization, it is 
hoped that more economy will be introduced into the affairs of 
the navy, and that its efficiency will be improved. 

The departments entrusted to the management of these bureaus 
are as follows : — 

First — docks and yards. 

Second — building, equipment, and repairs. 

Third — provisions and clothing. 

Fourth — ordnance and hydrography. 

Fifth — medicine and surgery. 

The chiefs of the first and fourth bureaus are taken from the 
captains of the navy, with a fixed salary of 3,500 dollars. 
An able naval constructor directs the second bureau,* whose 
salary is 3000 dollars. The chief of the third receives the same 
salary. A surgeon in the navy has charge of the fifth bureau, 
with a salary of 2,500 dollars. 

Each bureau is provided with a number of clerks, proportioned 
to the importance of the labor it demands. 

Congress also found it necessary to organize a branch of ser- 
vice corresponding to the development of the steam navy. In 
this, it has followed the example of Great Britain, which has 
recently adopted specific arrangements relative to steam naviga- 
tion. 

New regulations have been adopted to determine the capacity, 
the rank, and the duties of all engaged in the naval steam ser- 
vice. This department is placed under the control of an engi- 
neer-in-chief, who receives a salary of 3000 dollars. 

Each steam frigate has a complement of eight engineers. The 

* The chief of this bureau is also selected from among the captains in 
the navy. — Tb. 



314 AMERICAN POWER. 

chief engineer receives a salary of 3000 dollars.* Associated 
with him are two first assistant engineers, with a salary of 900 
dollars each ; two second assistants, with a salary of 620 dollars 
each ; and three third assistants, with a salary of 500 dollars 
each. 

New regulations have also been adopted relative to the educa- 
tion of young men intended for this service. On board of ships, 
these are divided into four classes. They are admitted into the 
fourth class at from fourteen to seventeen years of age, rising 
gradually every year. After they have been examined, and 
admitted into the first class, they form a part of the active ser- 
vice, and are eligible to promotion. 

By this spirit of foresight, the government has assured the su- 
premacy of the influence and the continuance of the institutions 
of the Union. 

The navy of the United States will one day play a great part 
in the destinies of the American nation. Hence it must ever be 
kept prepared to act with all its energy, so as to be able to take 
either the initiative or the defensive in the struggles which must 
necessarily take place between England and the United States 
relative to the monopoly of commerce and manufactures. To 
meet these exigencies, it became necessary to provide navy yards 
for the construction and repair of vessels, as well as stations 
and harbors, defended by the regular army or by the militia, and 
capable of being supplied with men, provisions, and materials of 
war by lines of internal communication. 

All these objects are secured, thanks to the foresight of the 
American people. 

There are nine navy yards in the United States, namely: Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire ; Charlestown, near Boston, in Massa- 
chusetts; Brooklyn, opposite New York; Philadelphia, on the 
Delaware ; Washington, on the Potomac ; Gosport, near Norfolk ; 
Pensacola, in the Gulf of Mexico ; Sacket's Harbor, on Lake On- 
tario ; Erie, on Lake Erie ; and Memphis, on the Mississippi. 

There are dry docks only at three of these yards, Charlestown, 
Brooklyn, and Gosport. These are constructed of excellent 
material, granite, from the quarries near Quincy. Mr. Baldwin, 

* The engineer-in-chief alone receives 3000 dollars. Those attached to 
ships are chief engineers, with a salary of 1500 dollars. — Tr. 



HARBORS ON THE AMERICAN COAST. 315 

an able American engineer, was the first to introduce these 
splendid structures, which may bear favorable comparison with 
those of Cherbourg in France, or of Plymouth in England. Each 
cost 150,000 dollars.* 

Their dimensions are as follows : Length, 341 feet 3 inches; 
breadth, 80 feet 4 inches; depth, 30 feet. As the tide at Boston 
does not ordinarily rise over thirteen feet, it became necessary to 
pump sixteen or seventeen feet of water into the dock, by means 
of a steam engine, to enable a seventy-four to float in it. 

This toilsome and expensive operation was indispensable at all 
points of the American shore, where the tides rise very little 
compared to those of La Mancha, in Europe. It is only at Hali- 
fax, or at Saint John's, New Brunswick, a part of the British 
Possessions in America, that the tides rise sufficiently high to 
enable ships of the line to float in the docks. 

The American coast presents a great number of harbors, 
adapted for shelter in storms, or as means of escape from the 
pursuit of a superior force. Fortunately, it is also abundantly 
supplied with roadsteads. For the defence of these, the govern- 
ment has already expended very large sums, and is still endeavor- 
ing to finish the works that will complete the system of defence 
so happily prosecuted since the last war. 

The two most extensive roadsteads on the coast of the United 
States are Narraganset at the north, and Hampton at the south, 
at the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Boston and New York are next in importance. Pensacola is 
the only roadstead in the Gulf of Mexico. 

One of the greatest advantages of the Narraganset roadstead, 
indejiendently of its excellent anchorage, where the water is 
from eight to twenty fathoms deep, with a very good bottom — 
and of its vast extent, where the largest fleets can anchor in 
safety, as did that of Count de Grasse during the Revolution — 
is that it is the only one on the American coast accessible with a 
northwest wind, from which quarter blow nearly all the winter 
gales, so violent and so dangerous on an iron-bound coast. 
Vessels can also beat in and out of it in almost any state of the 
weather, without scarcely ever needing a pilot. 

* The cost of these docks is far greater than that stated in the text, 
being, on the average, at least 750,000 dollars each. — Tr. 



316 AMERICAN POWER. 

The Boston and New York roads are always accessible when 
the wind blows from north-north-west, south-south-east by east, 
while Narraganset Bay can be entered by all winds from north- 
west to east by west. It is the immense advantage thus afforded 
to American fleets that gives so high a military importance to this 
roadstead. For this reason, moreover, the Board of National 
Defence has so strengthened this place by means of permanent 
fortifications as to give it the character of an American Gibraltar. 

Hampton Roads is not less important, as well because of its 
proximity to the Gulf of Mexico as because it is the only harbor 
on the southern coast which ships of war can enter. 

The Pensacola roadstead answers every purpose of the navy on 
that portion of the maritime frontier of the Union. It has conse- 
quently been fortified at great expense. 

Sacket's Harbor on Lake Ontario, and Erie or Presqu'Ile on 
Lake Erie, are excellent naval stations, where the government 
has also collected supplies sufficient to insure the navy a decided 
advantage on the lakes. 



CHAPTER III. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

FORTIFICATIONS. 

Their object — Character — Armament — Jurisdiction, 

The Americans have erected no ostentatious ramparts, because 
they have felt and understood that the best defence of their 
country is its legions of freemen ; still they have not neglected 
the construction of such permanent fortifications as were judged 
necessary for the numerous seaports with which their coasts are 
so abundantly provided, and which with their navy give them a 
commercial superiority over every nation of the globe. 

Of all fortresses, patriotism, attachment to the institutions of 
a country, and perfect harmony between the people and the 
government, are undoubtedly the best. Now, all these elements 
the Americans possess. In trying emergencies, therefore, such 



FORTIFICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. 317 

as those in which liberty or property is at stake, they can be 
relied on with far more confidence than the most formidable of 
ramparts. 

The engineers who were appointed to put these frontiers in a 
state of defence were strongly impressed with this consideration. 
'They well understood that, in accordance with the true principles 
of strategy, the Americans required but few strong places of the 
first class. But they saw that fortresses sufficiently large to concen- 
trate the forces, called to act, according to circumstances, on 
threatened points of the frontier, were required; that these should 
cross the great lines of communication, so as to secure a prompt 
supply of provisions; in short, to use a military word, that the 
points should be stragetic — that is to say, adapted to protect the 
country in the rear, and to cover the base of operations presented 
by the line of communications parallel to the coast, and that which 
connects with the interior where the magazines are established ; 
an arrangement adapted to afford adequate supplies at all times 
along the whole base of operations. 

The object of the American fortifications is to cover all the 
ports of the United States, and thus secure them for the navy, so 
as to deprive an enemy of any position where he might establish 
himself, during a war, under the protection of a superior naval 
force, and thus annoy the frontier. These fortifications protect 
those great centres of population, which influence in so high a 
degree the destinies of the country. They are designed to keep 
open, as much as possible, the great thoroughfares of internal 
navigation at their outlet, the ocean, by covering the various 
harbors, ports, and accessible points on the coast. In short, they 
secure the great naval depots from all aggression by land or sea. 

The development and strength of these fortifications vary 
according to their relative importance in the general system of 
defence adopted along the coast. 

The smallest of these fortifications would, in time of war, re- 
quire a garrison of three hundred men ; the largest, a garrison of 
from one thousand to twelve hundred men. 

Fortresses of the first class require garrisons of from twenty- 
fiive hundred to three thousand men. 

The armament for the lesser forts varies from fifty to two 
hundred pieces of every calibre. Forts of the first class require 
from three hundred and seventy to four hundred and thirty- 
eight pieces. 



318 AMERICAN POWER. 

This armament is generally composed of twelve, eighteen, 
twenty-four, thirty-two, and forty pounders; field pieces, carron- 
ades, eight-inch howitzers ; eight, ten, and thirteen-inch mortars, 
and swivels. 

They are all furnished with furnaces to heat shot, an incendiary 
projectile so justly appreciated both by sail and steam vessels. 

All the fortifications are caseraated, and bomb proof. The 
interior barracks are so arranged as to afford a retreat and 
shelter against the incendiary projectiles of an enemy. 

Such is the general character of the fortifications erected by 
the Americans to place their frontier in a state of defence, in the 
construction of which they have perseveringly labored since 1816. 
They are also distinguished by that beauty of finish and good 
condition characteristic of everything the Americans undertake. 
Except the fortifications of Holland and Belgium, I know of none 
more nicely kept. 

American cities are not, like those in Europe, defended by walls. 
Moreover, the nature of the service this defence would necessarily 
require would ill accord with the institutions of the country, with 
the exigencies of commerce, and above all with the character of 
the inhabitants. A commercial port, like Havre, encased within 
fortifications, from which the inhabitants can have no egress ex- 
cept through crowded and narrow issues, and only at particular 
times, would be monstrous in the eyes of the Americans, who 
have their own interpretation of the liberty which society ought 
ever to enjoy. 

The sea ports of the United States are rendered inaccessible 
to an enemy's vessels by fortifications, always placed at certain 
distances from the cities, on elevated positions, commanding the 
entrance into the roadsteads. 

All these positions are essential parts of one general system of 
defence, and, in a measure, so allied to one another that each 
fortified point, besides its ability to act at the place of its location, 
can immediately co-operate with the other points of the line. 
They can thus afford security to the movements of troops on the 
various roads, railways, and canals of the country, as well as 
protect the stores and military depots whose location had been 
previously assigned by the Board of Defence. 

The system of strategy adopted for the defence of the Ameri- 
can territory may be considered the most complete application of 



CHARACTER OF AMERICAN FORTIFICATIONS. 319 

the great conceptions of nailitary science; and a tribute justly 
due by posterity to the memory of General Bernard is the title of 
the Vauban of America. 

The fortifications erected for the defence of the great commercial 
cities on the shores of the Atlantic, such as Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk, have no connection with 
the internal or municipal regulations of these cities, which always 
remain subject to the civil authorities and the common law. 

The fortifications are, in some rare instances, the property of 
particular States; but they mostly belong to the general govern- 
ment. They are always under the jurisdiction of the respective 
authorities to which they belong; whence it results that the sup- 
pression of crimes or misdemeanors within the territory of a fort 
belonging to the general government comes under the cognizance 
of the federal authority. 

The application of the common law is consequently the same 
with respect to the other fortifications as to individual property, 
the right of search and extradition not being available with 
regard to foreign property, without the consent of the local 
authorities. This law emanates from the right of sovereignty 
claimed by each State; for the general government is empowered 
to exercise control only over the property submitted to its special 
jurisdiction, such as that appropriated for the erection of fortresses, 
storehouses, arsenals, navy yards, and other useful public estab- 
lishments. 



320 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NATIONAL DEFENCK. 

MARITIME FRONTIERS OF THE UNION. 

Description of the several maritime frontiers of the United States, and of their 
military organization — Ports of Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Charleston, and Pensacola. 

The American Union extends its jurisdiction over a territory 
estimated to contain about 1482,600,000 acres, about the twenty- 
third part of the habitable portion of the globe. This immense 
territory is situated between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
We shall only direct our attention to that which borders on the 
former, and that which is east of the Rocky Mountains. This 
territory covers a superficies of 1182,589,948 acres. 

The maritime frontier of the United States extends from the 
twenty-fifth to the forty-sixth degrees of north latitude; that is to 
say, over twenty-one degrees of latitude and twenty-seven degrees 
of longitude. 

The total extent of the coast, without including the sinuosities 
of the shores, and the large interior bays which form part of it, 
is about 3,245 miles. 

The frontier is generally subdivided as follows: — 

1st. JVorth-Eastern Frontier^ from Passamaquoddy Bay to Cape 
Cod. 

2d. Frontier extending from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. 

3d. Southern Frontier, extending from Cape Hatteras to Cape 
Florida. 

These three divisions are the Atlantic Frontier. 

4th. Gulf Frontier, extending from Cape Florida to the mouth 
of the Sabine, west of the Mississippi. 

Although it might, at first glance, appear a gigantic and almost 
impracticable attempt to fortify so extensive a coast, yet a care- 
ful study of localities will readily show this to be possible. This 



THE NORTH-EAST FRONTIER. 321 

we shall endeavor to explain, not in detail, but with sufficient 
precision to enable the reader to appreciate the merit of the sys- 
tem by which this result has been accomplished. 

In the first place, we remark that a considerable portion of this 
frontier is not accessible to vessels of large draught, and conse- 
quently can be exposed only to attacks from small parties, in frail 
vessels. Against these, a few field batteries, manned by the 
militia, would in all cases suffice. 

Those portions of the maritime frontier which have required 
permanent fortifications are precisely those where the great 
centres of population and commerce, navy yards, or the great 
outlets of rivers which lead to arsenals, foundries, &c., are found. 
In these cases, the necessary fortifications have an importance 
proportional to the interest the enemy might have in attacking 
them. 

All the fortifications erected for the security of these various 
establishments, whether military or commercial, exhibit the 
excellence of the system pursued in their construction. 

The following details of the military organization of these 
frontiers will clearly exhibit the security of the territory of the 
Union against future violation, a security based on the accomplish- 
ment of a plan judiciously proposed by the Board of Defence in 
1816, and strictly followed since that time. 

THE NORTH-EAST FRONTIER. 

This frontier, remarkable for the ruggedness of its coast and 
the number of its ports, is equally celebrated for the thick fogs 
which, during certain seasons, cover it with an almost impenetra- 
ble veil. It extends about four hundred and eighty-four miles, 
and is lined with islands. Accessible to heavy vessels at all 
points, the navigation of this coast is no less safe to seamen 
acquainted with it than it is dangerous to those ignorant of it ; 
for it is studded with high rocks which, when concealed by thick 
fogs, are highly dangerous to the inexperienced. 

.Mount Desert Island, at one time belonging to M. la Mothe- 
Cadillac, is the most important anchorage on this coast. There, 
ships of the line of the largest class find an excellent harbor, and 
are easily defended by batteries. 

, Penobscot Bay, immediately to the westward, is the outlet of 
a very brisk trade, and an important artery of the internal navi- 
21 



322 AMERICAN POWER. 

gation of the State of Maine. Bucksport, on these waters, has 
been selected as a port of shelter. 

Sheepscot, to the west of this bay, is another port of shelter, 
sufficiently deep and large for all classes of vessels. 

The Kennebeck River is important because of the line of ope- 
rations it presents against Quebec. This river, the reader must 
remember, was ascended, in 1649, by Gabriel Drouillet, one of 
those bold and adventurous missionaries who traced, in America, 
the first lines of communication of which future generations 
were to avail themselves. It is also the outlet of the flourishing 
commerce of a number of cities built on its shores, among which 
Bath holds the first rank. 

Portland is a commercial city of the second class; but it is a 
useful port for fisheries, and susceptible of easy defence. 

Portsmouth has been fortified in consequence of its good 
anchorage, and because it is the seat of one of the United States 
navy yards. 

Between the last port and the harbor of Boston, there are a 
great many points which, though of less importance, bear a cer- 
tain relation to the interests of commerce, and consequently form 
an integral portion of the system of national defence. 

But the harbor of Boston is undoubtedly the most important 
military position on the north-east coast, on account of the excel- 
lence of its anchorage and its wealth. This harbor is nearly 
seventy-five miles square, and is completely land-locked. It 
affords perfect shelter to ships of war. There one of the most im- 
portant naval stations has been established. In short, Boston is 
a commercial city of the first order, with a population distin- 
guished for activity and enterprise, amounting to more than 
93,452 souls. Nearly one thousand two hundred and ten miles 
of railroad radiate from this capital of New England to the 
north, east, west, and south, instilling fresh vigor into its intelli- 
gent and industrious inhabitants. 

The fortifications of this harbor have been completed with so 
much judgment and zeal by the able engineer who has had 
charge of the work, that it may now be considered perfectly 
sheltered from all external invasion. 



CENTRAL MARITIME FRONTIER. 823 



CENTRAL MARITIME FRONTIER. 

This portion of the coast contains fewer harbors than the pre- 
ceding. It is accordingly less rocky, but surrounded by sand 
banks. The climate is less severe and the atmosphere less 
charged with fogs.' It is intersected by large inland bays, which, 
by means of numerous rivers, permit the tide to ascend a great 
distance into the interior. Its entire extent is about six hundred 
and thirty miles. 

Narraganset harbor is the most important one on this coast. 
The celebrity it has acquired in consequence of the concentra- 
tion of the French naval forces there, under the orders of Count 
de Grasse, during the War of the Revolution, would suffice to 
prove its advantages as a safe roadstead. For this purpose, it has 
been especially reserved by the Americans, who have incurred 
heavy expense in rendering it inaccessible to an enemy's naval 
force. 

New York, which, next to London, is the largest port in the 
world, is the harbor second in importance on this coast. Its rank 
and commercial reputation must justify the details we shall give 
of its immense resources. 

The population of New York, in 1S47, was 410,000, In the 
last ten years, it has increased one hundred and fifty per cent. 
The administration of the city costs its inhabitants the annual 
sum of 1,400,000 dollars. The value of real estate and personal 
property is estimated at 253,000,000 dollars. 

Its tonnage has exhibited a corresponding increase. It now 
amounts to 618,186 tons. This does not include the coast and 
river trade, which amounts to 78,750 tons, nor the seventy-five 
steamers, constantly running, amounting to 30,760 tons. One 
hundred vessels of all classes are annually built in New York, 
with a total burden of about 17,000 tons. In this number are 
included sixteen steamers. 

The value of merchandize imported and exported in the course 
of one year is estimated at 120,000,000 dollars. 

The tonnage of New York, next to that of London, is greater 
than that of any other port in the world, and is equal to one-sixth 
of the tonnage of the whole United States. 

When trade is very active, the number of vessels in port ex- 
ceeds eight hundred, exclusive of steamers and coasters. More 



324 



AMERICAN POWER. 



than two thousand foreign vessels annually enter, and nearly 
three thousand coasters annually leave, this port. In 1847, more 
than one hundred and seventy-five thousand foreigners arrived 
in New York. 

In the year 1842, New York completed the greatest monument 
that the health and necessities of a people can require. Its 
inhabitants are now supplied with an abundance of pure and 
limpid water from the mountains. An aqueduct about forty miles 
in length, running nearly in a direct line, and costing about 
12,000,000 dollars, conveys nearly 60,000,000 gallons of water 
a-day to the centre of this great American city; whilst the supply 
of London is only about 34,840,000 gallons.* 

New York is situated on Manhattan Island, which is fourteen 
and a half miles long by three miles wide. It is in latitude 40° 
42' north, and 74° 2' west from Greenwich. The city proper is 
ten miles in circumference. 

Manhattan Island is watered to the east by the sea, which 
reaches it through Long Island Sound, and to the west by the 
Hudson River, which, as far as Albany, may be regarded as an 
arm of the sea, the tide extending up to that point. 

The arm of the sea which bathes the eastern shore of the city 
of New York is now known as the East River; and the Hudson 
as the JYorth River. It is the junction of these two great water- 
courses at the southern point of Manhattan Island which forms 



* The Croton, which supplies New York with water, takes its rise in a 
group of mountains, connected with the chain of the AUeghanies, near Sing 
Sing ; consequently, below the point where the Hudson crosses that chain, 
without forming any falls. Its water comes from a primitive basin, and is 
very pure. The following comparative analysis of the water of the Croton, 
and of the Schuylkill which supplies Philadelphia, was made by Messrs. 
James C. Booth and W. H. Boye of Philadelphia. 





Croton. 








SchuylkiU 


Carbonate of lime 


45.86 .... 53.67 


Carbonate of magnesia 


18.78 








11.87 


Alkaline carbonates 


16.57 








4.53 


Alkaline chlorate 


3.87 








3.75 


Oxide of iron 


2.21 








1.88 


Silica 


7.18 








9.68 


Organic matter 


5.53 








0.88 


Alkaline sulphate 










13.74 



100.00 



100.00 



CENTRAL MARITIME FRONTIER. 325 

the admirable bay or harbor of New York, which is without 
parallel in the whole world. 

The Bay of New York is about ten miles long, and five miles 
wide. It communicates directly with the sea by a strait called 
the JVarrows, which is twenty-seven hundred yards wide, and 
is formed by Long Island to the east, and Staten Island to the 
west. A line of permanent fortifications completely defends this 
narrow pass. 

Beyond the Narrows, the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island 
form a sort of roadstead, which, from the Narrows to the outside 
bar near Sandy Hook, where it terminates, and where the water 
has a depth of only twenty-four feet at low tide, is not less than 
seven miles in length. The tide ordinarily rises five feet. 

The projects of the Board of Defence embrace the protection 
of this roadstead by means of fortifications on the outside bar, 
and floating batteries or armed steamers adapted for the naviga- 
tion of the sand banks in the vicinity. 

I have no doubt that this profound conception of the authors of 
the system of national defence will be promptly and thoroughly 
realized. The future, pregnant with impenetrable events, makes 
this a duty. To postpone much longer the accomplishment of 
these works would be involuntarily diminishing the chances of 
success. So great a lack of foresight is scarcely presumable. 
Sandy Hook should be well secured, for on it the defence of New 
York essentially depends. The government has already com- 
menced the construction of works at this point. 

From New York to the Chesapeake Bay the coast is flat, and 
almost destitute of harbors, with the exception of the mouth of 
Delaware Bay, on whose waters the city of Philadelphia,* with a 
population of 258,922 inhabitants, is situated. f Delaware Bay, 
however, offered no shelter, and the sand banks which obstruct 
its entrance, like those of the Seine, rendered its access difficult 
and its anchorage unsafe. But an artificial harbor or break- 
water, constructed at its mouth, under the direction of the Board 
of Internal Improvement, has entirely remedied this inconveni- 

* Philadelphia is supplied with water from the Schuylkill River at the 
rate of 2,376,000 gallons a-day. 

t Philadelphia is situated on the Delaware River, not on Delaware 
Bay.— Te. 



326 AMERICAN POWER. 

ence. Fortifications protect both the anchorage and the entrance 
to this bay.* 

Chesapeake Bay, on the Atlantic shore, is the central basin 
of all the natural and artificial navigable waters of the Union. It 
is the great intermediate chain which binds together the northern 
and the southern coasts, and whence national fleets can extend 
their protection to foreign as well as domestic commerce. 

This magnificent bay, extending into the interior one hundred 
and ninety-four miles, is navigable for the largest class of vessels, 
and contains a multitude of harbors and basins. It receives the 
waters of several large, and a great number of secondary, rivers. 
It is the outlet of the trade of the capitals of Virginia and Mary- 
land, and of the celebrated Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. 

The fortifications erected near the mouth of the Chesapeake, 
on Hampton Roads, are intended to defend the navy yard at 
Norfolk, which, next to that of Boston, is the most important in 
the Union; to prevent the invasion of an enemy at that point; 
to cover the navigable avenues of Virginia; in short, to secure 
thorough protection to the cities situated on the waters of this 
bay, against which no enemy would dare to venture, so long as 
he would have any occasion to fear the naval forces stationed in 
Hampton Roads. 

These fortifications are of far greater importance than those 
constructed at other positions on the same coast. Their importance 
are the greater from their connection with the various parts of the 
system of national defence. The Board of 1816, having termi- 
nated the reconnoissance of all the shores of the United States, 
decided upon giving a development to the fortifications of Hamp- 
ton Roads exceeding that of any of the fortifications yet erected 
in the United States — a development, nevertheless, strictly indis- 
pensable to the defence of so central a point of operations. 

Hampton Roads and Narraganset possess equal stragetic ad- 
vantages; it was therefore proper that both should be placed in 
a condition commensurate with their importance. 

Notwithstanding the extent of the fortifications at the mouth, 
the Board also proceeded to protect the cities at the head, of the 
Chesapeake. With this object, Hawkins^ Point and Sollers'' 

* QMiese fortifications protect the entrance to the Delaware River, of 
which the bay is the expansion. — Tr. 



MARITIME FRONTIER OF THE SOUTH. 327 

Point were selected for the immediate protection of Baltimore 
and the Delaware Canal ; and the shores of the Patuxent and 
of the Potomac were fortified to cover the federal city, the port 
of Alexandria, and the outlet of the Ohio Canal. 

MARITIME FRONTIER OF THE SOUTH. 

This portion of the American coast, more than eleven hun- 
dred miles in extent, is characterized by the presence of an im- 
mense sand bank, formed by the uniform motion of the Gulf 
Stream. Consequently, this frontier is inaccessible to vessels of 
war of heavy draught. It is accessible at few points to vessels 
of small draught, for the sand bank which covers the coast is 
pierced only at great intervals by canals or natural openings 
made by the flow of the waters from the interior on their passage 
to the sea. These channels are shallow, and mostly of difficult 
access. They lead to various interior bays, which communicate 
one with another, and admit an inland navigation along the 
coast. 

Charleston, South Carolina, is the most important port on this 
frontier. It presents a sufficiently large basin; but the outside 
bar does not permit the entrance of vessels drawing more than 
twelve feet of water. 

Port Royal, fifty-eight miles south of Charleston, and twenty 
miles north of Savannah, is the only harbor which will admit 
vessels of larger draught. The last points on the coast that afford 
a harbor for light vessels are Savannah and St. Mary's River. 

The defence of the principal points on this frontier is secured 
by fortifications, and by the co-operation of armed steamers 
built in such a manner as to sail with facility through all the out- 
side channels of the coast. 

FRONTIER OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

This frontier, in its general characters, very much resembles 
that we have just noticed. It has very nearly the same extent, 
eleven hundred and sixty-four miles, or about three-eighths of the 
entire extent of the maritime frontier. Its security, however, 
interests four-fifths of the Union; for the coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico forms the maritime frontier not only of Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, Alabama, and West Florida, but also of Arkansas, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, 



328 AMERICAN POWER. 

and Iowa, thus embracing three-fourths of the territory of the 
Union. 

The importance of this frontier, and the impossibility of 
establishing a correlation between its means of defence and those 
of the Atlantic frontier, have rendered it indispensable to adopt a 
complete and independent system for the effectual protection of 
so accessible a part of the Republic. From the geographical 
position of the coast, and of the territory interested in its defence ; 
from the insalubrity of the climate, the nature of the adjacent 
country, the varied interests of the inhabitants, and the character 
of the population on which the duty of repelling the attacks of a 
foreign enemy would devolve ; it is, and will for a long time re- 
main, too weak to perform alone this national task. The Missis- 
sippi River is the only outlet of these vast and wealthy regions; 
and New Orleans, established upon its shores, is the point where at 
present is concentrated, with the richest productions, the largest 
amount of disposable capital in the Union. 

All these considerations must necessarily have exerted an in- 
fluence on the minds of the Board, and led to the adoption of a 
system of defence, proportioned to the interest an enemy might 
have in directing its attacks on this portion of the Union. 

Land and water communication formed an integral portion of 
this system, thus furnishing the means of enabling the militia of 
the interior at any given moment to defend the frontier of the 
Gulf. These means of communication are connected with the 
navigation of the coast, and are protected by military arsenals 
anil depots of arms, placed at convenient distances along the 
navigable rivers. On the coast itself, fortifications are placed for 
the direct defence of the water avenues leading from the sea to 
the shores of the Mississippi, whether directly along its course, 
or through its western and eastern channels. 

The important Bays of Mobile and Pensacola, the first as the 
outlet of the rich Stete of Alabama, the second because of its 
excellence in a naval point of view, are also embraced in this 
system of defence. Provided with permanent fortifications, these 
anchorages are secured to the American navy. The Board of 
Defence also judged it necessary to establish in these waters one 
of the great naval stations of the United States. Twenty-two feet 
of water can be carried over this bar; it is crossed with facility, 



FRONTIER OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 829 

and has remained unchanged for half a century. The inner 
harbor is perfect, and completely sheltered from every wind. 

The United States cannot too soon carry out the plan, proposed 
by the Board of Defence, of erecting in the harbor of Pensacola 
a maritime arsenal and a navy yard. No point of American terri- 
tory presents equal advantages; for the timber of Florida is cele- 
brated for its superior quality. Described more than a century 
and a half since by our most able naval officers, it is now an object 
of considerable speculation in commerce, for the construction of 
vessels. 

On no point of the American coast, perhaps, could steamers 
and floating batteries render more eminent service in the national 
defence. These could always thread a multiplicity of channels, 
and at any time find protection under forts built expressly for their 
special defence, in case an enemy with a superior force should 
attempt, by crossing them, to circumvent access to New Orleans 
and the delta of the Mississippi. 

My firm conviction, founded upon my knowledge of the 
resources of defence, is that an enemy who would have the pre- 
sumption to face so many dangers would find this frontier as 
strong as a wall behind which two thousand cannon, served by 
ten thousand picked artillerists, would always be ready to receive 
them. 

In the event of a war, the defence of the entire coast of the 
United States by permanent fortifications is henceforward assured 
by more than twenty-tiuo thousand cannon, of all calibres, manned 
by sixty-four thousand men, taken from volunteer companies, dis- 
ciplined and trained to the use of siege pieces. 

Such unparalleled means, entirely derived from the resources of 
the War Department, show, most conclusively, what foresight the 
government of the United States can exhibit concerning every- 
thing that aflfects the great interests of the country. No one 
can refuse to acknowledge that the Americans understand these 
interests as well as they know how to persevere in the accomplish- 
ment of whatever tends to consolidate them. 



330 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER V. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

INLAND FRONTIER. 

Description of the Northern Line, and of its defensive organization — Hydrography 
of tlie great Lalces — Western Line. 

The present inland frontier extends from Passamaquoddy Bay 
to Lake Superior, and from this point to the Sabine Bay, in the Gulf 
of Mexico. Its precise extent is not exactly known; but it may 
be estimated at about three thousand six hundred and seventy 
miles, forming two great divisions, namely, the JYorthern and the 
Western. The former extends from Passamaquoddy Bay to the 
head of Lake Superior ; it divides the English Possessions from 
the United States, and is very nearly two thousand miles in extent. 

NORTHERN LINE. 

The chain of lakes to the north of the United States, communi- 
cating one with another, and with the Ocean through the River 
St. Lawrence, presents a line of navigation, which penetrates the 
interior of the American territory for a distance of nearly two 
thousand miles. This line is undoubtedly one of the character- 
istic features of the physical geography of America. It forms 
very nearly the line of deraarkation between the Republic of the 
United States and the British Possessions. 

This frontier, with reference to national defence, bears some 
resemblance to that of the Atlantic, by reason of the inland seas 
on which it rests. 

A brief description of the lakes which compose this inland 
sea will show their importance relative to national defence as 
well as to the commercial prosperity of the country lying on their 
borders. 

There are five great lakes: Lake Superior, the largest of all, 



NORTHERN LINE. 331 

and Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The latter is 
separated from Lake Erie by the Falls of Niagara. 

Lake Superior is about four hundred miles long, and eighty 
wide, with a superficies of thirty-two thousand square miles. It 
is nearly nine hundred feet deep, and five hundred and eighty-six 
feet above the level of the sea. It is the largest sheet of fresh 
water known, and may be regarded as the source of all the 
tributary rivers of the St. Lawrence. 

This lake communicates with Lake Huron by the RiveV St. 
Mary. This river is forty miles wide, and it has a fall of 
twenty-three feet in its entire course. Consequently, at present, 
it is navigable only for very small craft. But so easily can its 
depth be increased that, ere long, this improvement will be 
effected. 

River St. Mary is entirely commanded by Fort Brady, an 
American post erected at the falls of the river. 

Lake Michigan is three hundred and twenty miles long and 
seventy wide, with a superficies of twenty-two thousand four 
hundred square miles, without including Green Bay, at its 
northern extremity, which is one hundred miles long and twenty 
wide, and has a superficies of two thousand square miles. Lakes 
Michigan and Green Bay are five hundred and sixty-nine feet 
above the level of the ocean. The former is nearly one thousand 
and the latter five hundred feet deep. 

Fort Howard, a military post belonging to the United States, is 
situated on Green Bay ; and Fort Dearborn is situated at the 
southern extremity of Lake Michigan. 

The shores of Lake Michigan are already populous. Michigan, 
Chicago, and Milwaukie are the principal cities. 

This lake communicates with Lake Huron by the Straits of 
Michilimakinac, which of late years, as was predicted by the 
early Jesuit missionaries, those bold pioneers of French coloniza- 
tion in the New World, has become a position of great commer- 
cial importance. At this point the United States has established 
a military post. Fort Mackinaw, which commands the strait. 

Lake Huron is two hundred and forty miles long, and eighty 
wide. Its superficial extent is twenty thousand four hundred 
square miles. It is nearly one thousand feet deep, and five hundred 
and sixty-nine feet above the level of the sea. It communi- 
cates with Lake Erie by the River St. Clair, which is thirty-five 



332 AMERICAN POWER. 

miles long, and by a small lake of the same name leading into 
Detroit River, which is twenty-nine miles in length. This com- 
munication is navigable for all classes of vessels. 

Lake St. Clair has a superficial extent of three hundred and 
sixty square miles. It is twenty feet deep, and five hundred and 
sixty-one feet above the level of the ocean. 

Fort Detroit, at the head of the river of the same name, com- 
pletely protects the entrance of Lake Huron. 

The city of Detroit, capital of the State of Michigan, is situated 
at the point where Lake Sinclair empties into Detroit River. 
This old French settlement has become a very important city, 
owing to its advantageous position for the trade of the lakes. 

Lake Erie is two hundred and forty miles long, and forty wide, 
with a superficies of nine thousand six hundred square miles. 
It is eighty-two feet deep, five hundred and fifty-six feet above 
the level of the sea, and three hundred feet above the level of 
Lake Ontario. The bottom of this lake is rocky. It has a feeble 
current in the direction of Lake Ontario, which is checked by 
the action of the winds. During the winter, the lake is often 
obstructed by ice. The principal towns on its shores are situated 
on the American side: Portland, Sandusky, Cleveland, Erie, or 
Presqu'Ile, Ashtabula, Dunkirk, and Buffalo. 

The Niagara River serves to discharge the waters of Lake 
Erie into Lake Ontario. It is thirty-seven miles long. The cata- 
racts have a fall of one hundred and fifty-two feet. For a dis- 
tance of seven miles above and below the Falls, the river is not 
navigable in consequence of rapids and whirlpools. Near its 
mouth, the celebrated Fort Niagara, now occupied by soldiers of 
the United States, has been built. 

Lake Ontario is one hundred and eighty miles long and thirty- 
five wide, and has a superficial extent of six thousand three 
hundred square miles. It is navigable for vessels of the largest 
class. In some places, it is six hundred feet deep ; but its mean 
depth is about five hundred feet. It is two hundred and thirty 
feet above the level of the ocean. Though farther north than 
Lake Erie, it is never closed by the ice. 

On the English shore, the principal cities on its borders are 
Toronto, Kingston, and Niagara. On that of the United States, 
Oswego, Genesee, and Sacket's Harbor; the latter is a naval and 
military station, where a strong force is always kept in consequence 



NORTHERN LINE. 333 

of its proximity to Canada, and where ships can be built and 
launched with facility. 

The natural communication presented by this American Medi- 
terranean is interrupted, as we have seen, between Lake Erie 
and Lake Ontario, by the Falls of Niagara. This obstacle is now 
overcome by an artificial navigation on the two opposite shores. 
On the English side, by the Welland Canal ; and on the American 
territory by the Erie Canal and a branch of the Oswego Canal. 

Welland Canal is forty-two miles long, fifty-three feet wide at 
the surface and twenty-five feet at the bottom. It is about eight 
feet in depth. Unfortunately, it cannot be navigated by steam- 
boats, an inconvenience which must soon be removed. Never- 
theless, in its present state, it affords a communication between the 
two lakes for vessels of one hundred and twenty-five tons burden. 
It was commenced in 1824, and finished in 1829. It cost 
1,350,000 dollars, more than thirty-two thousand dollars a mile. 

The head of the Welland Canal is at the Port of Maitland, on 
Lake Erie. It terminates in a small river which empties into 
Lake Ontario, at Fort Dalhousie, and passes about five miles to 
the west of the Falls. 

Up to the present time, the Americans have been contented 
with the facilities of communication between the two lakes 
afforded by the Erie Canal. Nevertheless, as the importance of the 
Lake trade has augmented through the improvements constantly 
taking place in the rich adjoining countries, they no longer feel 
willing to permit their Canadian rivals to monopolize all the 
advantages of sail navigation. Attention has been directed to 
the practicability of opening a direct canal on the American side, 
sufficiently large for steamers and sailing vessels. This splendid 
project has been examined by Major Bache, a distinguished 
officer of the corps of Topographical Engineers, who has proved 
that it is not only practicable, but that it would be, in relation to 
the defence of the country, and its commercial prosperity, an 
enterprise of the most useful kind. 

Let us hope that this canal, so highly important to New York 
and the Western States, and consequently to the whole of the 
Atlantic coast, will not be considered merely a feasible project, 
but that it will be constructed with expedition. 



334 AMERICAN POWER. 

The following table shows the principal dimensions of the 

GREAT LAKES OF THE UNITED STATES.* 





Length 
in 

miles. 


Breadth 

in 

miles. 


Depth 

in 
feet. 


Height 

above the 

ocean in 

feet. 


Area. 


Sq. Miles. 


Acres. 


Lake Superior 
Green Bay 
Lake Michigan 
Lake Huron 
Lake St. Clair 
Lake Erie 
Lake Ontario 


400 
100 
320 
240 
20 
240 
180 


80 
20 
70 
80 
18 
40 
35 


ft. in. 

bss.y 

492.2 
984.3 
9843 

20 

82 
492 


ft. in. 
586. 7^ 
569 
569 
569 
561 
556 
2.30 


32,000 

2,000 

22,400 

20,400 

300 

9,600 

6,300 


20,471,740 

1.279,484 

14,330,018 

13,050,735 

230,307 

6,139,522 

4,0311,374 










93,060 


59,532,180 



From this table, it will be seen that Lakes Michigan, Huron, 
and Green Bay are on the same level ; that all the others are of 
different heights; that Lake Superior is the most elevated; and 
that this American Mediterranean may be considered the most 
vast collection of fresh water on the face of the globe, since it 
covers a surface equal to 59,532,180 acres, nearly one-half of 
the surface of France. The quantity of fresh water contained 
in the whole of these basins, including the River St. Lawrence, 
according to various authors who have investigated the subject, 
would appear to be equal to one-half of all the fresh water on the 
globe! 

The total extent of coast watered by these inland seas is esti- 
mated at five thousand five hundred and forty-two miles, of which 
three thousand one hundred and ninety-two miles belong to the 
United States, and two thousand three hundred and fifty to Eng- 
land. The lake coast is, therefore, almost equal to that of the 
Atlantic, or to the distance which separates the Old from the New. 
World. 

From Lake Ontario to the eastern extremity of the Union, the 
frontier which separates the United States from the British Pos- 
sessions in America has not yet been well determined. The 
Americans extend their claim to the St. Lawrence ; the English 
need the right shore to preserve their land communication between 

* This table exhibits simply the mean measurement, and is taken from 
the scientific works of Mr. Douglas Houghton, geologist and mineralogist 
of the State of Michigan. 



NORTHERN LINE. 335 

the provinces of Canada and New Brunswick. The claims of 
the Americans are based on that imperious necessity which 
requires the St. Lawrence to become an American river similar 
to the Mississippi, with which it forms, by means of the inland 
lakes, a water communication from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf 
of Mexico: those of the English on their interpretation of treaties. 

A diplomatic solution of this question, calculated to satisfy both 
parties, appears but little probable,* because it involves insur- 
mountable difficulties, those of territorial conveniences, which 
treaties can never reconcile, and which, sooner or later, must be 
settled in a very decisive manner. Moreover, a war brought on 
through a disputed boundary is no novel circumstance. I repeat 
that the question is not so much whether the State of Maine shall 
have a given boundary more or less extensive, as whether the 
Americans will maintain their pretensions and rights over the 
navigable line of the St. Lawrence, as they formerly maintained 
them against France, then in possession of the St. Lawrence, the 
Lakes, Canada, and the territories of the north-west. 

In the present condition of affairs. Lake Champlain, in the State 
of New York, occupies an important position with reference to 
the stragetic operations that might be directed against the cities of 
Montreal and Quebec on the St. Lawrence; for, at its northern 
extremity, it empties, through the Sorel or Richelieu River, into the 
St. Lawrence, and communicates with New York, through the 
Hudson, by means of the Champlain Canal. 

This lake is one hundred and fifty miles long and fourteen wide. 
It is navigable, through its entire course, for vessels of five feet 
draught. The principal cities on its borders are St. John, 
Plattsburg, Ticonderoga, Whitehall, and Burlington. This lake 
is blocked by ice during five months of the year. 

This water avenue can easily be protected by fortifications. 
The frontier which separates the British Possessions from the 
United States is protected only by a few unimportant posts, and 
barracks for regular troops and militia. 

With the prospect of an inevitable, if not an immediate, contest 
with their Canadian neighbors, the Americans have yet taken no 
measures to protect this frontier. They depend, apparently, on 

* This question, to speak truly, is solved in a measure by the Ashburton 
Treaty; but another solution is reserved for the future. 



836 AMERICAN POWER. 

the powerful development of their civilization, far superior to that 
of the people of Canada; and, in short, on the preponderance of 
democracy over monarchy in the New World. 

WESTERN LINE. 

The frontier of the west is at present merely an imaginary 
line, which separates the Indian nations, driven to the west of the 
Mississippi, from the territory occupied by the Americans. It 
may be readily conceived, therefore, that the Americans have little 
occasion to raise costly fortifications against so wretched a race, 
destitute of arms, of means of defence, of ideas of property, 
and, consequently, in the pursuit of no definite object. They 
have only erected a few barracks, blockhouses, and stockades on 
several points of the great rivers which traverse these regions, 
where regular troops are stationed to keep the Indians in check, 
and to teach them to respect the power of the United States. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

Arsenals — Armories — Depots — Magazines — Foundries. 

In the vast plan of National Defence which engaged the mind 
of American engineers, the selection of sites for depots, maga- 
zines, and arsenals became an object of special attention. It was 
essential that every part of this system should accord with the 
rules of strategy, and thus become, in the event of a defensive 
war, the means of securing the most important results. It was 
necessary that these establishments should be so distributed in 
the interior of the territory that all the natural facilities of trans- 
portation which the country afforded at each of the great divisions 
of the inland and maritime frontier should be made available in 
order to secure supplies at every point on the base of operations 
as promptly and economically as possible. 

All these stragetic conditions, indispensable to the defence of 
the country, have been fulfilled. True, they have been the work of 
time; but for that reason they have received every advantage 



ARSENALS. 337 

derivable from new discoveries, and from the application of steam 
on the routes lately constructed ; and they will continue to be 
developed under the influence of the improvements which the 
creative genius of man is destined to realize through this new 
element of power. 

Those parts of the country where all kinds of materials are 
available, and where labor is sufficiently abundant to secure the 
prompt manufacture of implements of war, and a due supply of 
provisions, at the lowest possible prices, are usually selected as 
the sites of military establishments. 

They are all situated on the banks of navigable streams, within 
convenient distance from the frontiers dependent on them. Sup- 
plies, therefore, can always be readily and economically furnished, 
entirely beyond the range of an enemy who might seek to inter- 
cept them. In short, the late extraordinary extension of railroads 
in the United States presents facilities, in this respect, no less 
advantageous for the defender than detrimental to an assailant. The 
Americans are thus placed in a condition which will secure them 
a decided advantage over the offensive operations of any enemy. 

The military establishments of the United States are divided 
into three classes: — 

The first are specially adapted for the fabrication of the materiel 
of war ; but they are nevertheless supplied with workshops for all 
necessary repairs, as well as with magazines and depots of arms. 

The second, on the other hand, are establishments where this 
materiel is repaired and preserved. These also contain magazines 
and depots of arms. 

The third are simply magazines, and depots of arms, munitions, 
and supplies of all descriptions. 

The American Union possesses twenty-one of these establish- 
ments ; eight of the first, ten of the second, and five of the third 
class. They are distributed as follows : — 

One in Maine ; one in Massachusetts ; one in Vermont ; three 
in New York ; two in Pennsylvania ; one in Maryland ; one at 
Washington, in the District of Columbia ; one in Virginia ; one 
in North Carolina; one in South Carolina; two in Georgia; one 
in Alabama ; one in Louisiana ; one in Arkansas ; two in Mis- 
souri ; and one in Michigan. 

Thus, the Atlantic frontier is supplied with ten of these estab- 
22 



338 AMERICAN POWER. 

lishments ; the Gulf of Mexico with three ; the northern part of 
the inland frontier with six, and its eastern part with three. 



ARMORIES. 

The United States yet contains only two national manufactories 
of arms : one at Springfield, Massachusetts, on the Connecticut 
River ; the other at Harper's Ferry, at the junction of the Potomac 
River with the Shenandoah, in Virginia. These establishments 
possess great natural advantages. The latter especially is pro- 
vided with an abundance of all kinds of material, such as tim- 
ber, iron, and coal, in addition to a water power that is almost 
incalculable. So excellent is the site of this establishment, 
surrounded by mountains through which the roaring Potomac 
has opened for itself a passage to the great Atlantic, that it 
is now the centre of an extensive communication by water and 
land. Rivers, canals, and railroads converge to this point 
from every direction, so that large supplies of arms can be sent 
without delay to the various sections of the country where they 
are required. 

A similar establishment for the direct supply of the western 
country is yet to be erected in the Valley of the Mississippi. So 
numerous are the sites where an abundance of all the elements 
for the required manufacture is found that the great difficulty has 
been to make a selection from among so many presenting equal 
advantages. It would, however, be very injudicious any longer 
to postpone an undertaking so eminently essential to complete the 
organization of the system adopted for the defence of the Union ; 
and the aspect of affairs in the United States, at the present time, 
should induce an immediate appropriation by Congress of the 
sum necessary to erect the required establishment. 

In ordinary times, the government annually manufactures 
twenty-five thousand muskets. This number can very easily be 
trebled by the employment of the labor commonly devoted to this 
branch of industry. Besides, at any given time, the necessities 
of the country can be amply supplied by commerce. 

But a great nation should always place itself in such a condi- 
tion as to be unaffected by commercial or other contingencies, 
that it may at all times enforce the respect due to its independence. 
If the fundamental principle of the organic law of the Americans 



IMPORTANCE OF NAVIGABLE CHANNELS. 339 

is that every citizen is a soldier, then, as a natural consequence, 
every soldier should be armed. 

FOUNDRIES. 

The United States does not yet possess any national foundries. 
Up to the present time, its artillery has been obtained only 
through commerce and private enterprise. This circumstance, 
among a people whose habits are essentially commercial, who 
have always been accustomed to depend on commerce for the 
supply of all their wants, need not excite wonder. But such a 
state of things cannot long exist without exposing the nation to 
the most serious accidents. The Union ought clearly to compre- 
hend that it is neither prudent nor economical to depend on 
private enterprise for the supply of the materials required by such 
highly important branches of the public service as the army and 
navy. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RATIONAL DEFENCE. 
NATURAL CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION. 

Importance of natural navigable channels in a system of defence — Physical aspect 
of the American territory — Number and distribution of the natural channels of 
communication. 

In the system of National Defence, channels of communication 
form a necessary complement of the navy and of fortifications. 
In defensive operations, in fact, the means of commiinication 
must be such as to permit the safe retreat of vessels into the in- 
terior, when threatened by a superior force, as well as to secure 
to those strategic points exposed to the attacks of an enemy, the 
possession of which might serve to form a line of operations 
against the country, an ample supply of men and the materiel of 
war. 

But, since the discovery of steam, and its application as a 
means of transportation, the utility of channels of communica- 
tion has considerably augmented. Formerly of secondary con- 



340 AMERICAN POWER. 

sequence, they have become of the first importance because of 
the facilities they afford for concentrating at given points, and in 
a very short time, immense forces. Hence, at the present time, 
they form in a measure the principal lines of operation, since 
they connect the points supplied with the elements of defence 
with those liable to be attacked. 

Thus, by means of the numerous channels of communication 
with which enterprise has covered the American soil, all kinds of 
supplies can at any moment be safely transported to stations, 
harbors, roadsteads, and national ship-yards; and troops can be 
transported, without fatigue or loss of time, to act at any given 
point. Security against disturbance or interruption is thus given 
to the inland trade even during a most active war. 

The Americans have so well understood the advantages of these 
channels that they have even established new ones, while giving 
the utmost possible development to those which nature afforded. 

Thus, as far back as 1763, after the fatal treaty which deprived 
us of Canada, we see them energetically endeavoring to improve 
the navigation of the principal rivers of this territory. But after 
the War of Independence the Americans gave a fresh impetus 
to their internal improvements, and devoted the utmost attention 
to extend their area, fully persuaded that by this means they 
directly contributed to secure the most powerful of all auxiliaries 
of defence, and consequently of their independence, objects not 
less important than the commercial and material prosperity of the 
country. 

RIVERS. 

The territory of the United States, remarkable for the num- 
ber and disposition of its natural channels of communication, 
is divided into two great regions — that of the Atlantic, and that of 
the Gulf of Mexico — by the Alleghany Mountains, which extend 
from the River St. Lawrence to Florida. To the north, the 
line of Lakes, avoiding these obstacles by a natural navigation, 
places the Atlantic in direct communication with the Gulf. Be- 
sides, the slight elevation of these mountains, whose mean height 
above the level of the sea does not exceed three thousand 
i^et, affords facilities for the formation of artificial channels. 
The Americans, taking advantage of these facilities, have united 



RIVERS THAT EMPTY INTO THE ATLANTIC. 841 

the two great geographical divisions of their country by the 
greatest possible number of lines. 

More than one hundred rivers take their rise in this long 
chain of mountains, and furrow the two opposite flanks before 
reachinsr the ocean. All the watercourses that descend the 
western slope towards the Gulf are navigable for vast distances. 
Those on the eastern slope, although much shorter in their course, 
are of equal importance. All present channels, to adapt which 
for commercial purposes, or for the defence of the country, but 
little art has been required. 

On the eastern slope, beginning at the north, the most import- 
ant rivers in New England are the Penobscot, navigable as far as 
Bangor; the Kennebeck, as far as Augusta; the Merrimack, as far 
as Lowell; the Connecticut, as far as Hartford ; and the Thames, 
as far as Norwich. 

In the State of New York, the Hudson takes its rise near Lake 
Champlain, from which to the Atlantic Ocean it presents a line 
nearly two hundred and fifty miles in extent. It is navigable for 
large vessels for one hundred and fifty miles of its course. 
' In the centre of the maritime frontier is the Susquehannah, of 
which the Chesapeake Bay, properly speaking, is but a pro- 
longation. It is navigable up to Columbia, a distance of more 
than three hundred and fifty miles from the ocean. This beauti- 
ful river is one of the principal arteries of the internal navigation 
of the Union. 

The Patapsco is navigable as high as Baltimore, which is 
situated at the head of the Chesapeake Bay, two hundred and 
forty-two miles from the ocean. 

The Potomac is navigable for ships of the line up to Washing- 
ton. From its mouth in th^ Chesapeake Bay to the falls near 
Georgetown, the distance is one hundred and two miles. 

The Rappahannock, York, James, and other rivers emptying 
into the Chesapeake, are navigable, throughout a great extent of 
their course, for heavy merchant ships and for steamboats, which 
ply daily between the ports of Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, 
Fredericksburg, Annapolis, and Baltimore, all commercial cities 
much larger than any of the ports of France. 

Advancing towards the south, we find smaller ports, and less 
navigable rivers. Nevertheless, we meet with important cities, 
situated at the mouths of rivers navigable for coasters and steamers 



342 AMERICAN POWER. 

of light draught, which are enabled to ascend a great distance 
into the interior, thus placing the merchant along side of the rice 
and cotton planter. 

The Roanoke ; the Pamlico ; Ashley and Cooper Rivers, whose 
junction forms the port of Charleston ; the Savannah, whose bar 
is covered by eighteen feet of water, and which steamers ascend 
as far as Augusta, a distance of about one hundred and forty-five 
miles, to take in cargoes of cotton ; the Alatamaha, navigable 
beyond Darien; the River St. John in Florida, whose depth is 
nearly seventeen feet over the bar, and from sixteen to twenty- 
three feet for an extent of nearly two hundred miles in a southerly 
direction, are the principal rivers on this part of the coast. 

On the Gulf of Mexico, we find the following : The Suwanee, 
the Appalachicola, navigable for steamers as far as Columbus, 
Georgia, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. The Mobile, 
navigable to the boundaries of Alabama and Tennessee; its 
waters might easily be connected with those of the Tennessee. 
Finally, the Mississippi, whose basin receives all the rivers and 
streams which water the immense regions of the west; a river 
which affords, with its tributaries, along a course of nearly nine 
thousand miles, an easy navigation for steamers. 

The Mississippi, properly so called, is navigable for a distance 
of nearly two thousand miles ; the Ohio, in some respects a con- 
tinuation of it, for a distance of nine hundred miles, from Pitts- 
burgh to its mouth. 

The Missouri, the principal tributary of the Mississippi, is 
navigable for a distance of two thousand three hundred and fifty 
miles. 

Among other tributaries of the Mississippi, also navigable for 
steamboats, the principal are the Cumberland, the Illinois, the 
White, the Arkansas, and the Red River. 

The Americans have endeavored to improve the navigation of 
these natural channels to the utmost possible extent; so as to 
afford facilities for the penetration of merchant vessels into the 
interior. On all of them the general government, in conformity 
with a specific plan, has constructed immense works of art. 
These works, prosecuted with greater or less vigor, according to 
the resources of the treasury, are eminently essential to the safety 
and the prosperity of the interior of the Union, and constitute 
the most eflScacious of all means of resistance in a foreign war. 



IMPROVEMENTS ON THE LAKES. 343 



LAKES. 

The chain of great lakes at the northern frontier of the United 
States, passing round, as I have already remarked, the chain of 
the Alleghanies, affords a natural navigation of one thousand five 
hundred and fifty miles, or, including the River St. Lawrence, of 
nearly two thousand miles. I have already described, in Chapter 
v., the principal characteristics of this American Mediterranean, 
which has become the centre of a vast system of communication. 
I shall therefore only refer here to the works constructed by the 
United States for the general interests of commerce and of the 
national defence. 

The war of 1812 had demonstrated the importance of preserv- 
ing ports where American vessels might seek shelter from gales, 
as well as points whence they might direct their attacks against 
English cruisers. In 1818, the general government ordered the 
Board of Defence and Internal Improvement, with which body I 
was associated, to make a careful examination of this entire line, 
to ascertain what improvements were required to diminish the 
danger of navigation on the Lakes both to the naval and mercan- 
tile marine; for, on these inland seas, tempests are not less fre- 
quent or less terrible than those encountered on the great ocean. 

Since that time, the United States, by means of numerous 
works, has created various ports of shelter on Lake Michigan, 
Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, as well as twenty-five light-houses 
to direct the navigator, or point out the dangers the pilot is to 
avoid. 

On Lake Michigan, public works have been constructed at 
Milwaukie, Michigan, and Chicago. 

On Lake Erie, at Detroit, Sandusky, Ashtabula, Portland, 
Presqu'Ile, Dunkirk, and Buffalo. 

On Lake Ontario, at Genesee, Oswego, and Sacket's Harbor. 

These improvements, consisting principally of moles or break- 
waters, present havens where vessels can take shelter against the 
prevailing winds of the lakes. 

I have already described the improvements of the port of 
Presqu'Ile, in a history of the internal improvements of the 
United States, published in 1834,*by Messrs. Anselin and Cari- 
lian-Goeury, which exhibits the system pursued in the construction 
of such works in the United States. 



344 AMERICAN POWER. 

In making the dike or the breakwater of the port of Dunkirk, 
a very ingenious method was adopted, which deserves notice. 
During one of the severe winters so frequent in the latitude of 
Lake Erie (43° north), when the ice was sufficiently strong to 
bear a person in perfect safety, a coffer dam was constructed on 
the spot selected as the position of the breakwater. Stones were 
thrown into it until its weight broke the ice, when, sinking to 
the bottom, it formed the foundation for a superstructure. 

The artificial harbor of BufTalo is formed by dikes, constructed 
of stones of small size, which are placed in regular layers, and 
so well put together as to form a solid wall. They are thus 
capable of resisting the most violent gales of winter. For the 
crowning of the dike, stones of half a ton weight were used. 

Such constructions are frequently required in the United States ; 
and, when well executed, answer, according to my observations, 
all the purposes of their erection. 

STRAITS AND BAYS. 

The description of the maritime frontier in Chapter IV. must 
have given the reader an idea of the immense advantages which 
the numerous bays and straits afford to navigators along the coast. 
By looking at a map of the United States, the truth of this state- 
ment may easily be verified. There exists an almost uninterrupted 
inland communication, for the entire length of the coast, formed 
by an admirable chain of bays and straits. Commerce has, for a 
long time, derived profit from this navigation. It is serviceable 
to the coasting trade, and is a very important element in the 
national defence. Hence, every American statesman, directing 
his attention to the utmost development of which this navigation 
is susceptible, has sought to render it complete from the extreme 
north-east of the continent to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 
The Board of Defence and of Internal Improvement has also de- 
voted much attention to this grave and interesting question, and 
has drawn up several plans, of which a description may be found 
in the work to which I have already referred. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 345 



CHAPTER VIII. 



NATIONAL DEFENCE. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. 



Progress of Steam navigation; its physical and moral effects on the American nation 
— Number of steam vessels — Effective force — Tonnage — Accidents — Expense 
of navigation on the Atlantic; on the Western rivers; on the Lakes — Price of 
transportation — Relations of steam navigation to the national defence. 

To the application of steam as a motive power, the natural 
channels of navigation mainly owe all their advantages. To this 
cause also is attributable the high degree of prosperity now en- 
joyed by the people of the United States, where it would seem, 
indeed, that steam had especially established its empire. On this 
portion of the new hemisphere, with its immense lakes, gigantic 
rivers, and vast bays, it appears to have been destined to prove 
to the world its creative power. Its astonishing results familiarize 
our minds with the most fabulous recitals. Under its influence, 
cities have risen as by enchantment; vast solitudes have been 
peopled and fertilized; and masses of people daily change their 
homes, and carry new life to spots where, but the day before, the 
silence of the forest was broken at rare intervals only by the echo 
of the rifle of the pioneer. 

Steam, with the Americans, is an eminently national element, 
adapted to their character, their manners, their habits, and their 
necessities. With them it is applied as much to extend their 
liberty as to augment their physical welfare. 

But progress in the mechanic arts, and especially in those arts 
which are destined to improve the condition of man, has always 
followed the development of the intelligence and political liberty 
of a people. The progress of the one corresponds with that of 
the other. God has so willed it. 

Among the inventions and discoveries of the human mind, the 
most important are, undoubtedly, the compass, the art of printing, 



346 ' AMERICAN POWER. 

cotton spinning, and, lastly, the application of steam to naviga- 
tion, the glorious conquest of the nineteenth century. 

The results of this discovery on the Continent of America are 
almost miraculous; and its influence is most remarkably felt in 
the regions of the west. If we carry our minds back to the period 
of the War of Independence (1776), when these wild countries 
were comparatively unknown, and when a few Frenchmen alone 
ventured to traverse them, how complete appears the metamor- 
phosis ! 

The first emigrations towards the west occurred between the 
years 1776 and 1806, and were directed along the principal rivers 
that water this vast territory. Since then, communication has be- 
come so rapid that time has augmented in value a hundredfold ; 
and distance so diminished, comparatively, that one may almost 
say that steam has annihilated space. Thus, taking New York 
as a point of departure, w^e arrive at Philadelphia in five hours, a 
distance of eighty-five miles ; at Baltimore, about seventy-seven 
miles from Philadelphia, and one hundred and sixty-two from 
New York, in eight hours; at Washington, two hundred and thir- 
teen miles from New York, in ten hours ; at Norfolk, in twenty 
hours ; at Charleston, South Carolina, in forty hours ; at New Or- 
leans, at the mouth of the Mississippi, a distance of two thousand 
one hundred and eighty miles, in one hundred and sixty-eight 
hours, or seven days. In fine, the Atlantic Ocean, between Europe 
and the Continent of America, is now crossed in eleven days. 
Such are the wonders wrought by steam ! 

While on this subject, I may be permitted to recall to remem- 
brance one of my first voyages to the United States, which took 
place in the year 1817. The contrast it presents to the expe- 
rience of the present time will justify the digression. 

At that period, two days were required to travel from New York 
to Philadelphia. The Hudson was crossed in a ferry-boat to the 
opposite shore, where a Jersey coach was in waiting to carry 
passengers to Trenton, on the Delaware River. There they passed 
the night. On the afternoon of the following day, they arrived in 
Philadelphia ; thence Baltimore was reached in three days. From 
Baltimore to Washington, the seat of government, was a long 
day's journey. Five to six days were thus consumed in travel- 
ing two hundred and forty-two miles. The whole expense of the 
journey was nearly twenty dollars. At the present time, it is ac- 



REMINISCENCE OF PITTSBURGH. 347 

complished without fatigue in ten or eleven hours, at an expense 
of about eight dollars. 

In 1817, a journey by land to New Orleans was considered 
a difficult and dangerous enterprise. Before undertaking it, 
the traveler had to make arduous preparations. He took the 
stage at Philadelphia for Lancaster in Pennsylvania ; the mail 
was then carried in an open one horse vehicle, or on horseback. 
Three days were required to perform this part of the journey. At 
Lancaster, the traveler had the choice either of walking across the 
mountains, or of purchasing a horse, which he could easily dis- 
pose of at Pittsburgh. I adopted the latter course, as more 
accordant with my taste ; but I gained little by the choice, for, 
as soon as I had reached the mountains, I was forced to dismount 
and confide my small saddle-bags, containing my modest change 
of clothing, to my horse. I consumed nine days in crossing the 
four ranges which form the chain of the Alleghanies. Having 
arrived at Pittsburgh — then the great bazaar of the west, and the 
general rendezvous of travelers, speculators, and emigrants from 
all parts of the world, who repaired thither to seek their fortunes — 
I was compelled to make a halt, and provide myself with all that 
was necessary to descend the great rivers of the west. - The spec- 
tacle which Pittsburgh presented, particularly to the eyes of a 
Frenchman, was exceedingly curious. It was an odd mixture of 
European, American, Asiatic, and African manners. The Euro- 
peans, who had lately arrived, with dialects as various as their 
costumes, seemed to be the most numerous. Here, the slave- 
trader, traveling from the shores of the Atlantic towards the 
Southern States, with his drove of Africans, appeared to be as un- 
concerned about his change of residence as he was careless of the 
future. Hither the red man, resembling the Asiatic in his native 
costume and his unconstrained manners, was attracted in great 
numbers, from the facility this city afforded him of exchanging 
his furs for spirituous liquors, for blankets, and powder and shot. 
Here also appeared the native of New England, the American, 
properly so called, whose indefatigable and adventurous spirit 
had driven him, with his family, towards these regions in search 
of good land, and of a home corresponding to his views of labor 
and speculation. Finally, in the midst of the latter, the true 
Yankee, a type of the human species peculiar to New England, 
vending his wrought-iron ware, the product of the industry, 



348 AMERICAN POWER. 

already celebrated, of his fellow-citizens of Connecticut and 
Massachusetts. 

In descending the Ohio and the Mississippi, at that time, it 
was customary to purchase and freight a flat boat. Embarking 
on this, it was necessary to trust to the strength of the current to 
convey you to your destination. This was certainly not a very 
expeditious method of traveling, especially when your only 
resource besides the current was the occasional use of the oar or 
the sail. From sixty to seventy days were consumed in this part 
of the journey; and it was not without exposure to difficulties 
and perils of no ordinary kind that so protracted a journey could 
be performed in the midst of the numerous Indians who, allured by 
the hope of booty, at that time frequented the shores of these rivers. 

We arrived at New Orleans, after this manner, in about eighty- 
four days, at an expense of from one hundred and twenty to one 
hundred and forty dollars; and the traveler who reached his desti- 
nation with no other inconvenience than that inseparable from so 
hazardous an undertaking was considered exceedingly fortunate. 

On the shores of the Ohio, which was the principal thorough- 
fare, the traveler would see occasionally, and at great distances 
apart, clusters of houses, forming small villages or hamlets, as a 
means of defence against the hostile visits of Indians. 

Since 1806, the progress of civilization and commerce has be- 
come strikingly perceptible. At one time, indeed, the transporta- 
tion of a few articles of merchandize was effected by means of 
long boats, manned by fifty or sixty men, who, by dragging their 
burden, with great labor and fatigue, along the shores by the aid of 
limbs of trees, succeeded in journeying from New Orleans to 
Cincinnati, a distance of nearly two thousand miles, in three 
months ! 

In 1807, Robert Fulton built the first steamboat that ever navi- 
gated the waters of the United States. It was supplied with an 
engine of eighteen horse power, constructed by Messrs. Bolton 
and Watt, of England. With this engine, Fulton succeeded in 
making the trip from New York to Albany, a distance of one 
hundred and forty-five miles, in eighteen hours. This trip is now 
performed in nine and ten, often in seven hours. 

In 1812, Fulton, having at length obtained the recognition of 
the merit and the advantages of his discovery, built, at Pittsburgh, 
under the auspices of the State of New York, the first steamboat 



STEAMBOATS IN THE UNITED STATES. 349 

that ever navigated the Ohio and the Mississippi, and named it 
the JVew Orleans, the place of its destination. 

From 1812 to 1818, other steamboats were successively built. 
The latter period may be regarded as the true starting-point of 
the rapid growth of the fertile countries of the west — a growth 
that is truly magical. From that time, the waters of the beauti- 
ful river — the Ohio — but lately so tranquil, have become agitated 
night and day by the wheels of steamers, which meet and pass 
one another almost as frequently as public carriages on the high- 
way. 

The smiling shores of the Ohio are now rapidly becoming 
decked with hamlets, villages, and cities, whose brilliant and 
animated aspect makes the traveler appreciate the prosperity 
of their inhabitants, and the vast wealth their industry has been 
able to create. 

In 1835, five hundred and eighty-eight steamboats had already 
been constructed on the waters of the Ohio, of which one hundred 
and seventy-three were built at Pittsburgh, one hundred and 
sixty-four at Cincinnati, and eighty at Wheeling. The burden 
of these steamboats varied from one hundred to seven hundred 
and eighty-five tons; entire burden one hundred and fifty-three 
thousand six hundred and sixty tons. 

From official statements, we learn that, in 1839, thirteen 
hundred steamboats had been built in the United States, eight 
hundred and twenty-eight of which were still in active service, 
and presented an effective power equal to fifty-seven thousand 
horses. 

In 1848, the whole number of steamboats in the Union is 
twelve hundred, with an aggregate burden of two hundred and 
forty thousand tons, and a power exceeding that of one hundred 
thousand horses. Of this number five hundred navigate the 
ocean, one hundred the lakes, and six hundred the rivers, bays, 
and straits of the Atlantic. 

Almost all the steamboats on the Western waters are high 
pressure, and lighted with gas. They are remarkable for their 
construction and their speed. 

The general government has instituted a strict inquiry into the 
causes of the casualties that have occurred on steamboats in 
American waters. Among the results of this inquiry, we find 
that, during the thirty years this means of transportation has 



350 AMERICAN POWER. 

existed, two hundred and thirty-five accidents have taken place, 
causing the death of two thousand, and wounding or disabling 
four hundred and forty-three, persons. By far the greatest number 
of these accidents have occurred on the western rivers and the 
Lakes. 

An incontestable advantage of steam in the United States is 
that it brings together, as it were, the extreme points of the vast 
Continent of America. Days are now sufficient to overcome dis- 
tances which, before the introduction of steam, months were 
required to overcome. We no longer hear the expression "Bos- 
ton is two hundred and thirty-five miles from New York" — but, 
rather, that its distance from the. latter city is six hours. 

At this day, a journey from New York to New Orleans may be 
accomplished without fatigue, in eight or ten days, at an expense 
of from eighty to one hundred dollars. Not only so, but a few 
hours may be gained to examine the most important cities on the 
route. The great mail regularly passes from one city to the other 
every seven days; and, by an arrangement that will soon be 
made, the time will be reduced to five days. 

Nothing exhibits in so significant a manner the extent to which 
steam navigation is identified with the active genius of the people 
of the West, as the daily motion of the floating ark, known as 
the steamboat of the West, which is three-decked, and not un- 
frequently carries twelve hundred passengers. 

At all the principal points on the Ohio, beginning at Pittsburgh, 
steamboats daily start, at stated hours, for the mouth of the river — 
for St. Louis, at the confluence of the Missouri and the Missis- 
sippi — or for New Orleans. 

The traveler, starting from Louisville, Kentucky, can arrive 
at New Orleans, a distance of nearly seventeen hundred miles, in 
three days. The ascending trip can be performed in from five to 
seven days. The rapidity of this traveling is somewhat startling. 
This, is especially the case when two steamboats, coming in op- 
posite directions, are seen to pass each other. A stranger cannot 
witness this scene without a feeling of apprehension. But the 
cool and tranquil American, confiding in the skill of the helms- 
man, contemplates with interest and a species of vanity these two 
smoking points, which are scarcely in sight before they are far 
away in contrary directions. They indicate his genius and his 
power ! 



STEAMBOATS ON THE HUDSON. 051 

If the course of the Ohio and the Mississippi, covered with their 
six hundred steamers, presents a much more animated aspect, in 
every way, than the Seine between Paris and Havre, the great 
American Lakes present the spectacle of an equally astonishing 
activity. The traveler finds the same facilities, the same regu- 
larity of transportation by steamboat, at every point on the Lakes. 
Thus, from Buffalo, on Lake Erie, at the head of the New York 
Canal, the traveler can reach Chicago, at the lower end of Lake 
Michigan, a distance of about nine hundred and seventy miles, in 
three days. Steamboats leave Buffalo on a certain day, and dur- 
ing their trip touch at all points where passengers wish to land. 
No less than sixty steamboats are thus employed. 

In the intercourse which takes place between the cities of the 
Atlantic States, steam navigation plays a very important part. 
The steamboat especially serves as a connecting link between 
various points on the railroad. Sometimes it is altogether inde- 
pendent of land conveyance ; and sometimes, with the object of 
lessening the expense as well as the time of traveling, it is 
brought into active competition with it. 

Six hundred steamers are now running on the bays, straits, 
and rivers of the Atlantic. Some are adapted for the trade along 
the coast from Maine to Georgia, and regularly ply between Port- 
land, Boston, Providence, New York, Norfolk, Charleston, and 
Savannah. 

The steamboats on the Hudson generally carry one thousand 
passengers, and cost each seventy thousand dollars. Of this 
amount ten per cent, is annually expended in repairs, assuming 
two hundred and twenty trips each of one hundred and forty-five 
miles to be made in a year. Their furnaces consume forty cords 
of wood per trip, or eight thousand eight hundred cords per year — 
an annual cost, at the rate of five dollars each cord,of forty thousand 
dollars. Each boat is insured at the rate of three per cent. The an- 
nual consumption of tallow, rigging, tow, &c. amounts to two thou- 
sand four hundred dollars. The crew is composed of a captain, who 
receives a salary of fifteen hundred dollars; a mate, six hundred 
dollars ; two pilots, eight hundred dollars ; two engineers, one 
thousand dollars ; six firemen, nine hundred and sixty dollars ; 
ten sailors, two thousand dollars ; and one helmsman, four hun- 
dred dollars. Total crew, thirty ; combined salaries, nine thousand 
one hundred dollars. Total expenditure, exclusive of the in- 



352 AMERICAN POWER. 

terest of the capital invested in the boat, sixty-six thousand dol- 
lars. 

A trip of one hundred and forty miles costs one of these 
steamboats three hundred dollars. 

Mr. J. Newton, of New York, has lately launched a steamboat 
for the Hudson River, named the South America, which is re- 
markable for its dimensions and speed. Its burden is six 
hundred and eighty-six tons ; length of deck, two hundred and 
sixty-two and a half feet (eighty metres); width of beam, twenty- 
nine feet and a half; depth of hold, nine feet two inches; draught 
of water, four and a half feet. On each side a long row of cabins 
-extends, capable of containing two hundred and twenty passen- 
gers each. This steamboat is worked by a single steam-engine, 
the cylinder of which is about four and a half feet in diameter. 
Stroke of piston, eleven feet; diameter of wheels, thirty feet; 
depth of paddles fourteen inches, breadth ten feet ten inches. 
These wheels make twenty-three revolutions per minute, thus pro- 
ducing a speed of nearly nineteen miles an hour. The boilers 
are cylindrical. The quantity of anthracite coal consumed per 
trip is ten tons. 

Mr. Brown, an equally celebrated American builder, has also 
launched a steamboat, to which he has given the name of the 
Empire, a term usually applied, by way of pre-eminence, to the 
State of New York. This steamboat makes the trip from New 
York to Albany and Troy, and returns, in twenty- four hours — 
a distance of three hundred miles. Its burden is one thousand 
tons; its greatest length three hundred and twenty-four feet ten 
inches; width of beam, twenty-nine and a half feet; \vidth, in- 
cluding wheels, sixty-two feet ; depth of hold, nine feet ten 
inches ; draught of water, four feet nine inches. It is impelled 
by two of Lighthall's horizontal steam engines, whose cylinders 
have a diameter of four feet ; stroke of piston, twelve feet. This 
steamboat cost ninety-five thousand dollars. 

On the Lakes, where wood is much cheaper than on the At- 
lantic coast, the expense of running a steamboat is less than on 
the Hudson. It does not exceed one dollar and twenty-nine cents 
per mile. 

On the western rivers, where the price of wood is still less, it 
is not more than one dollar and four cents per mile. 



ADVANTAGES OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 3^3 

On the Atlantic boats, freight is charged per mile at the rate of 
from three to nearly five cents per ton. On the Lakes, from two 
to four cents. On the western rivers, half a cent. 

The price of transportation of passengers by steamboat, meals 
included, is nearly five cents per mile. 

Such was the condition of steam navigation in the United States 
in 1843 — an element which has so greatly contributed to the pros- 
perity and the social progress of the people of this vast country. 

The use of steam must greatly change the results of a maritime 
war. If it is so powerful an auxiliary in attack, how great must 
be its superiority in the defence of a country like the United 
States — a country provided with an immense number of harbors, 
bays, and ports, protected by an inland navigation parallel to the 
coast, with a vast chain of canals that connect the centre with 
the extremes of the Republic ; and with combustible material at all 
points in great abundance. 

So fortunate a combination of circumstances must exert an 
incalculable influence on the contingencies of a defensive war; 
for, while an enemy would be forced to depend for a supply of 
fuel, deposited in advance and at great expense, on some proxi- 
mate points of the coast selected for attack, the defence would be 
constantly supplied at all points with excellent coal, obtained in 
the neighborhood, or brought from the interior at trifling expense. 
The number of an enemy's war steamers must always be propor- 
tioned to the quantity of fuel at his disposal. The United States, 
more abundantly supplied with this precious generator of steam 
than any other nation, can always employ as many war steamers 
as the defence of its maritime frontier shall require. 

By reason of this superiority of means, the United States navy 
must always possess a marked advantage over an enemy who 
would dare to attack the American coast. Nothing could prevent 
the United States, on the first alarm, from employing in its de- 
fence the four hundred steamboats belonging to the commercial 
marine, which, in a short time, might be at least sufficiently 
armed to repel any attempt at invasion. These steamboats would 
co-operate with the war steamers, which the federal government 
has been building since 1839 ; and adapted, by means of their 
light draught, to manoeuvre in every channel, and over every 
flat, they could harass the enemy in all his movements, and thus 
become a very powerful auxiliary of the navy. 
23 



354 AMERICAN POWER. 

Besides, in such an event, who could prevent the Americans, 
wilh their known hardihood of conception, and their boldness in 
execution, from repeating the daring attempt of Paul Jones, and 
thus retaliating, by the same means, the injuries inflicted on 
their country? This, I believe, would be very soon proved were 
an occasion to arise rendering it necessary to make an appeal to 
the citizens of the United States in defence of their rights and their 
territory ! 



CHAPTER IX. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

ARTIFICIAL CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION. 

CANALS. 

Origin ; classification — Lines from east to west, or from the great rivers of the At' 
lantic to those of the Valley of the Mississippi — Lines connecting the latter with 
the Lakes and with the St. Lawrence — Line parallel to the coast — Most import- 
ant canals in the United States — Recapitulation. 

The primary object which the Americans, in constructing their 
canals, sought to secure, was the connection of the large capitals 
on the Atlantic border, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, Richmond, and Charleston, with the rich territory watered 
by the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the great Lakes. The only 
obstacle.they had to surmount, in establishing these lines, was the 
Alleghany Mountains. 

Among the most honorable and enlightened of the men who, 
immediately after the achievement of their independence, directed 
their attention to the means of improving the navigable channels 
of communication, we are happy to cite the names of Franklin, 
Morris, Rittenhouse, Gallatin, Be Witt Clinton, Geddes, and 
others, at the head of whom we must naturally place Washington, 
the father of his country. All of these celebrated men directly 
contributed, by their judgment and talent, to establish that 
system of communication which is so much in harmony with the 



PROJECT OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 355 

necessities of the country, that it has always received the special 
attention of the American nation. 

To Mr. Gallatin, when Secretary of the Treasury in 1808, 
belongs the honor of first presenting, in his report to the Senate, 
a general plan of the canals and roads the country required. 

This project embodied the following elements: — 

1st. A navigable line parallel to the coast. 

2d. A system of extended lines, connecting the great rivers of 
the Atlantic with those of the Valley of the Mississippi. 

3d. Secondary lines establishing a communication between 
the greater lines, the Lakes, and the St. Lawrence. 

4th. A national road parallel to the coast, passing through all 
the capitals, from Maine to Georgia; and a great road crossing 
the country from Washington to New Orleans at the south-west, 
and to St. Louis and Detroit at the north-west. 

But the honor of having thoroughly studied this subject with 
the twofold object of favoring the development of the commercial 
and manufacturing interests of the country, and of contributing 
to the national defence ; of having presented a consistent plan 
of internal improvement, including canals, artificial ports, and 
strategic and post routes for the whole Union ; and of having 
prepared a statement of all these projects with their estimated 
cost, is due to the Board of Internal Improvement. 

I ought to add that the Board, in drawing up this extensive 
plan, was guided by the profound suggestions of Albert Gallatin, 
who was as able a diplomatist as he was a distinguished political 
economist. 

If all the routes which have been completed since the Board 
discontinued its labors accord with this project, so rare and 
splendid a result is attributable to the expansive views embodied 
in the above report; to the manner in which the channels of 
comm\inication have been adapted by the Board to the topogra- 
phical configuration, as well as to the requirements, of the country ; 
and to the correctness of the proposed calculations and estimates, 
which have always corresponded with the actual expenditure. 

I intentionally lay much stress on this circumstance, because it 
has exerted great influence on the public improvements of every 
nation, and because it has contributed in no slight degree to make 
the Americans more confident than Europeans of the success of 
their enterprises. 



356 AMERICAN POWER. 



GREAT LINES FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST, OR FROM THE ATLANTIC 
TO THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

1. The first great line constructed by the Americans is that 
which connects the Lakes with the Hudson River, New York with 
Lake Erie, and the Atlantic with the regions of the west, by 
winding around the north of the Alleghany Mountains. 

The Erie Canal was commenced in 1817, and finished in 1825. 
Its entire length is three hundred and fifty-four miles. It has 
eighty-four locks, that correct a slope of nearly seven hundred 
feet. So prodigiously has the commerce of the Lakes increased 
that this canal is now undergoing enlargement to a degree that 
will enable it to hold three times its original volume of water. 
The improved canal will be only three hundred and fifty miles 
long. Its slope will be six hundred and seventy feet, to be com- 
pensated by seventy-seven locks. 

But the enlargement of this canal maybe considered as equiva- 
lent to the reduction of one-half of its length, because of the 
increased facilities and the low price of transportation which 
commerce will realize by the change. 

From New York to Buffalo, by the Hudson River and the Erie 
Canal, the distance is four hundred and eighty-seven miles. 

To form an idea of the activity exhibited on this canal, we 
need only state that the average number of boats that annually 
pass through it exceeds twenty-five thousand, and that the amount 
of western products conveyed by this channel to New York is six 
hundred and sixty-nine thousand tons per year. The merchan- 
dize sent from New York to the west amounts only to one 
hundred and thirty thousand tons. Difference in favor of New 
York more than five to one.* The above products are principally 
furnished by Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. 

The navigation of the Lakes generally opens from the 20th 
to the 25th of April ; that of the canals from the 30th of March 
to the 8th of May. 

From New York to Lake Erie, through the Hudson Ptiver and 
Erie Canal, freight is charged at the rate of twenty-eight dollars 

* In 1847, 33,782 boats passed through this canal. Of the burden of 
these boats, 774,334 tons were carried to New York, and only 162,715 tons 
to the West. 



GREAT EASTERN AND WESTERN LINES. 357 

and sixty cents per.ton on light, and twenty dollars and twenty 
cents on heavy, articles. 

The tolls on this canal amounted, in 1844, to one million four 
hundred thousand dollars, more than eight per cent, of the capital 
of the company; in 1847, to two million dollars. 

2. The second great line connects the Delaware with the Ohio, 
Philadelphia with Pittsburgh. It crosses the central crest of the 
Alleghany Mountains by the aid of a railroad thirty-six and a 
half miles long, constructed by the State. 

Its length is three hundred and eighty-five miles, with two 
hundred and thirty-four locks along its entire course. Two 
hundred and fifty-three miles of this line were constructed 
by the State of Pennsylvania. Sixty-five miles of navigation, 
that is to say, from Philadelphia to Reading, are borrowed from 
the Schuylkill JYavigation Company, and seventy-seven miles, 
from Reading to Middletown on the Susquehannah, from the 
Union Canal Company. 

The freight per ton on heavy articles for the entire route from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh is twenty-one dollars and fifty cents ; 
on light articles, twenty-nine dollars. 

3. The third great line connects the Chesapeake with the west, 
the Potomac with the Ohio. Its starting-point is Washington. 
It is named the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and is now in course 
of completion, the government having appropriated funds in aid 
of that object. This line is three hundred and forty-one miles 
long, with a total slope of four thousand three hundred and 
fourteen feet. It has three hundred and ninety-eight locks, with 
a tunnel seven thousand one hundred and eighteen yards long, 
which penetrates the Alleghany Mountains. 

This is the shortest line between the Ohio and the Atlantic. 
Moreover, it possesses a great advantage in a strategic point of 
view, that of connecting the centre of the northern frontier with 
that of the maritime frontier and with the capital of the Union. 
By this means, the greatest possible number of militia, with an 
immense quantity of munitions of war, can be promptly concen- 
trated, at but little expense, on any point attacked on these 
frontiers. 

4. Thejourth great line is that which is to unite the James 
River with the Kanawha, the Chesapeake with the Ohio, across 
southern, central, and western Virginia. This line will be four 



358 AMERICAN POWER. 

hundred and eleven miles long. Its entire southern portion, 
between Richmond and Lynchburg, is finished. The central 
portion from Lynchburg to the mouth of the North River in 
Rockbridge county, is in course of completion. The people 
of Virginia, after having done so much towards the accom- 
plishment of the favorite project of General Washington — the 
connection of the waters of the Atlantic with those of the Ohio 
through the James River valley, across Virginia — will not now 
relax in their efforts. Their interests require them to keep pace 
with the great movement which prompts the population of the 
Atlantic States to secure direct communication with the Valley of 
the Mississippi. 

It is also very probable that the Virginians will soon establish 
a railroad in the great Valley of Virginia, for the purpose of con- 
necting the James River Canal with the navigation in Tennessee. 
This railroad will not be less than one hundred and fifty-five 
miles long, and \yill connect Buchanan with Knoxville. 

Thus a spirit of enterprise, and of honorable competition for 
the commerce of the rich countries of the west, has been the 
means of securing the construction of a series of routes across 
the American Alps, to which nothing in Europe can be com- 
pared. 

LINE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE ST. LAWRENCE AND THE LAKES, 
WITH ITS BRANCHES. 

The Americans have not confined their efforts to the four great 
lines already described. Their attention has also been directed 
to the means of connecting these channels, by secondary lines, 
with one another, and with the Lakes; as well as to the comple- 
tion of the navigable channels parallel to the coast. 

Among these secondary lines is the Farmington Canal, which 
secures a direct communication, seventy-five miles in extent, 
between Northampton, on the Connecticut River, and New Haven, 
a port on Long Island Sound. 

Champlain Canal, in the State of New York, sixty-three miles 
in length, establishes an important communication between the 
St. Lawrence and the Hudson. It is important in a strategic 
and commercial point of view, connecting Lake Champlain with 
Lake Erie, by the Erie Canal. 

The Black River Canal, eighty-three miles and a half in length, 



LINE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE LAKES. 359 

connects Sacket's Harbor, on Lake Ontario, with the Erie Canal, 
at Rome. This branch completes the system of strategy, as far 
as it is involved in the construction of canals, from the borders 
of the Hudson to the Lakes. 

The Chenango branch, ninety-four miles and a half long, con- 
nects the canals of New York with those of Pennsylvania, the 
Erie Canal with the Susquehannah, and Lakes Erie and Ontario 
with the Chesapeake. 

It will be observed, in this distribution, that the position of the 
Chenango Canal is an exceedingly important one, for it binds the 
interests of the north to those of the centre, and thus secures a 
simultaneous co-operation of all in the prosperity and defence of 
the country. 

Too much praise cannot be awarded to the intelligent and 
patriotic citizens who, notwithstanding the apparent antagonism 
of their interests, projected so essential a combination of internal 
improvements. 

The principal purpose of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, 
part of which lies in the State of New York and part in Penn- 
sylvania, is to supply New York with coal from the rich mines of 
the Lackawaxen, one of the tributaries of the north-east branch 
of the Susquehannah. This canal is ninety-seven miles long. 

In Pennsylvania, canals have received a greater development, 
if possible, than in the State of New York. These works were 
undertaken w^ith the twofold object of favoring the manufacture 
of iron, and the working of the coal and iron mines which con- 
stitute the principal wealth of the State. 

The first branch which receives the great eastern and western 
line, across the State, issues from the main body below the Juni- 
ata, near Duncan's Island, and follows the right shore of the 
Susquehannah as far as Northumberland, where it bifurcates to 
ascend the two branches which come respectively from the west 
and the north-east. The injury to which navigation was ex- 
posed by inundations suggested the feasibility of constructing 
canals by the sides of rivers. The experiment succeeded, and 
further attempts to improve the beds of rivers have since been 
abandoned. 

This branch, extending from Duncan's Island to Northumber- 
land, is thirty-seven miles long. It has a slope of eighty-five 
feet, and twelve locks. 



360 AMERICAN POWER. 

The canal lateral to the western branch of the Susquehannah 
ascends to Farrandsville, in Clinton county. It is nearly seventy- 
three miles in length. It has a slope of one hundred and thirty- 
six feet, and nineteen locks. 

The canal of the north-east branch of the Susquehannah passes 
at first along the right shore, for a distance of fifty-five miles, 
and then, crossing, runs along the left shore as far as the mouth 
of the Lackawanna, a distance of twelve miles and a half. At 
this point, it communicates with the coal regions of the Lacka- 
wana and Wyoming. Then it ascends the north branch of the 
Susquehannah as far as Athens, in Bradford county. 

By this prolongation, the canals of Pennsylvania are connected, 
through the Chenango Canal, with those of New York, thereby 
opening for Pennsylvania a new outlet for its abundant supplies 
of coal and iron, and enabling it to obtain with facility the pro- 
ducts of the State of New York, such as salt and plaster. 

The entire length of these three branches, from Northumber- 
land to Athens, is ninety miles. Total slope one hundred and 
ninety feet, overcome by five dams and twenty-five locks. 

All the works situated above Columbia, on the Susquehannah 
or its tributaries, have been constructed merely for the purpose of 
conveying to Philadelphia, the commercial metropolis of the State, 
the rich products of the Valley of the Susquehannah ; but as it 
was necessary to tranship these products at Columbia, the canal 
lateral to the Susquehannah has been extended to Havre de Grace, 
the head of ship navigation on the Chesapeake. This canal, 
establishing a complete communication between the east and the 
west, was finished in 1840. It saves a distance of more than 
thirty-six miles in the transportation of merchandize. It is 
forty-five miles long. Its total slope is two hundred and thirty- 
seven feet, counteracted by thirty-one locks, two of which have 
basins. The locks are divided into two equal compartments, 
thus forming a double basin measuring eighty-eight feet and a 
half. By this means, the passage of flatboats and other boats, 
which descend the stream during the floods, is secured. 

All these improvements, completed by the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, or by joint stock companies, have not yet secured a con- 
tinuous communication by canals from east to west, between 
Philadelphia and the Ohio. But its feasibility has been shown ; 



LINE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE LAKES. 361 

and it is presumable that the project will be consummated when 
the finances of the State will warrant so great an undertaking. 

This continuous line of navigation between Philadelphia and 
Pittsburgh will be five hundred and ten miles in length, with a 
fall of two thousand four hundred and ninety-one feet. It will 
follow the Schuylkill and Union Canals as far as Middletown, a 
distance of one hundred and forty-two miles, and the canal lateral 
to the western or Middletown branch as far as Sinnemahoning 
(Farrandsville), a distance of one hundred and seventy-two miles. 
From this point to the mouth of the Red Bank, a tributary of the 
Alleghany, the distance is one hundred and twenty-seven miles, 
and from the mouth of the Red Bank to Pittsburgh by the Alle- 
ghany, sixty-nine and a half miles. 

However, the advantages of canals will be unequally distribut- 
ed throughout the State, unless this branch of internal improve- 
ment be extended to Lake Erie, the borders of the north-west 
frontier. 

This feature in the internal improvements of Pennsylvania had 
engaged the attention of the engineers of the Union. During 
their laborious reconnoissance, they had shown the practicability 
of two routes adapted for channels of communication ; namely, 
one by French Creek, and one by Beaver Creek. These con- 
nect with Connaught Lake, and the waters thus merged reach 
Lake Erie at the harbor of Presqu'Ile. These projects have since 
been adopted by the State of Pennsylvania, and the undertaking 
has been commenced. When this great work shall have been 
completed, the distance from Philadelphia to Lake Erie, by a 
continuous canal, will be five hundred and eighty-seven miles, 
with a fall of three thousand one hundred and thirty-six feet; 
while the distance from New York to the same point will be only 
five hundred miles. 

But, on the other hand, Philadelphia is nearer to the valley of 
the Ohio, and can more readily supply this market, than New 
York. Now, Ohio has already effected, within its territory, a 
junction between the canals of Pennsylvania and the canal 
extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie, which is eighty-five miles 
in length. By these various canals, intercourse between Lake 
Erie, the Ohio, Philadelphia, and Baltimore is secured. 

Such are the principal features of the artificial navigation which 
ramifies in the neighborhood of the Hudson and the Chesapeake, 



362 AMERICAN POWER. 

equally the centre of a system of important channels for commerce 
and for the defence of the country. 

LINES EXTENDING FROM THE LAKES TO THE VALLEY OF THE 
MISSISSIPPI. 

Beyond the Alleghanies, to the west, and north-west, the pre- 
sence of the Lakes, and of those immense rivers which are not 
separated by any chain of mountains, has given rise to another 
system of artificial navigation, of easy accomplishment, which ad- 
mirably completes the net-work of navigable channels to which 
the United States owes its prosperity, and the moral confidence 
by which its integrity is maintained. 

Of these channels. Lake Erie, situated midway between the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, seems, from its geo- 
graphical relations to the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, to 
be, of all positions, best adapted for the concentration of all the 
channels of communication destined to impart life and vigor to 
every section of the Union. 

Four great lines of artificial navigation at this time place the 
valley of the St. Lawrence in communication with that of the 
Mississippi, and New York wuth New Orleans. Three take their 
departure from the borders of Lake Erie, and one from Lake 
Michigan. 

The Ohio Canal forms the first of these lines. It commences 
at Cleveland, on Lake Erie, and terminates at Portsmouth on the 
Ohio, ninety-seven miles from Cincinnati, and sixteen hundred 
and twenty-five miles from the ocean, in the direction of the 
Mississippi. Its length is three hundred and eleven miles. Its 
slopes, equal to eleven hundred and sixty-six feet, are counter- 
acted by one hundred and fifty-two locks. Begun in 1832, it was 
completely finished in seven years. With all its branches, this 
canal extends for a distance of three hundred and twenty-six 
miles. Its cost was four million six hundred and fifty-four thou- 
sand nine hundred and thirty-four dollars. 

The gross receipts on the Ohio canals amount to ten per cent, 
of their original cost, of which amount twenty-seven per cent, is 
absorbed by expenditures. 

The second line is that which the Miami Canal opens at the 
head of Lake Erie, near the mouth of the Maumee, at Perrysburgh. 
Its outlet is at Cincinnati, now the greatest commercial city 



IMPORTANCE OF THE MICHIGAN CANAL. 363 

of the west. The length of this canal is two hundred and fifty- 
eight miles. 

The third line is that which the Wabash Canal forms at Lake Erie, 
borrowing from the preceding canal eighty-three miles. It was 
constructed at the joint expense of the States of Ohio and Indiana. 
That portion of it which passes through the territory of the State 
of Indiana is one hundred miles long. The entire length of the 
line, therefore, to the point where the Wabash begins to be navi- 
gable for steamboats, is one hundred and eighty-four miles. 

The Wabash empties into the Ohio near Shawneetown. 

The fourth and last line is that formed by the Michigan Canal, 
which commences at Chicago, situated on the southern part of 
Lake Michigan. Its outlet is at Peru, on the Illinois River, one 
of the principal navigable tributaries of the Mississippi, which is 
ascended by steamboats. The length of this canal is one hun- 
dred and three miles. 

By means of this very important communication, which art has 
just completed, the six hundred steamboats which give life to the 
commerce and industry of the countries watered by the Missis- 
sippi can suddenly change their peaceful character, and take part 
in that struggle which the antagonistic interests of the English and 
Americans may call forth, when least expected, for supremacy 
on the American Mediterranean. The facilities which will here- 
after enable these steamboats to pass to the Lakes afford, in my 
opinion, the most reliable of all fortifications against aggressive 
attempts on the part of the present occupants of Canada. 

Moreover, the necessity of this line was long thought to be 
indicated by the nature of the country, and by the course of its 
waters, which, at the melting of the snow, communicate by the 
ponds distributed upon the plateau whence the Chicago River on 
the one side, and the little River des Plaines on the other, take 
their rise. This hydrographical characteristic of the north-west 
country was perfectly known to our Canadian voyagers, and to 
our early French settlers in Illinois, before the year 1700, This 
line is not the only one which attracted attention, nor is it the only 
one which this country presents favorable to a continuous naviga- 
tion between Lake Michigan and the greatest watercourses of North 
America. Thus, by Green Bay and Fox River, Lake Michigan 
is brought into close communication with the Wisconsin River, 
which empties into the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. The 



364 AMERICAN POWER. 

portage between these two rivers is only three thousand two hun- 
dred and eighty-one yards. By means of a very short canal 
across Milwaukie county, Lake Michigan can as easily be put 
in communication with Rock River, another tributary of the 
Mississippi. 

The facilities for opening navigable communications between 
Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi are equally great, 
whether by the River St. Louis ; by the Bois Brule and St. Croix 
Rivers, the former emptying into Fond du Lac Bay, the latter 
into the Mississippi below the Falls of St. Anthony ; or, in fine, 
by the Chippewa River, a tributary of the Mississippi, by the 
Montreal River, which empties into Lake Superior, or by the 
Menomonie through Green Bay. 

LINE OF NAVIGATION PARALLEL TO THE COAST. 

The hydrographical arrangement of the American coast is very 
favorable for an internal communication between the northern and 
southern sections of the Union. Large bays extend far into the 
interior. Islands cover a part of the coast, between which and 
the mainland run deep channels accessible to coasting vessels. 
Narrow and low strips of land were the only obstacles works of 
art were required to surmount in the establishment of this internal 
navigation. 

The Board of Internal Improvement had this important work 
under consideration simultaneously with its project concerning the 
national defence. In fact, the one was the correlation, the neces- 
sary complement of the other. In its general plan, the Board 
proved that, to facilitate the communication of coasting vessels 
between the north-east and the central maritime frontier, it was 
expedient to cut through the isthmus which unites Cape Cod to 
the continent, near Boston, between Buzzard's and Barnstable 
Bays; that this canal need be only eight miles in length; and that 
by this means vessels could avoid doubling the cape, always a 
protracted, and often a dangerous, navigation. The Board also 
proposed the construction of a canal at the Taunton River, 
with the object of opening a prompt and safe communication be- 
tween Boston and Narraganset Bays, and of securing an ample 
supply of provisions at both of these points in time of war. These 
canals are not yet begun; but their place is measurably supplied 
by railroads. These, however, do not supersede the necessity of 



LINE PARALLEL TO THE COAST. 365 

carrying out the project of the Board of Defence, if it be desirable 
to secure to the navy an inland navigation sheltered from all 
attack. 

The Board also suggested the construction of a canal which, 
crossing the State of New Jersey, should connect New York Bay 
with the Delaware River. This project has been realized. The 
length of the canal is forty-two miles ; width at the water line 
seventy-two feet ; depth seven feet two inches. It has fourteen 
locks, each ninety-eight feet and a half long by twenty-three feet 
and a half wide, which counteract a slope of one hundred and 
fifteen feet. Cost of the canal two million five hundred thousand 
dollars. 

The Board also recommended the junction of the Delaware 
with the Chesapeake Bay, so as to connect, by means of the canal 
across New Jersey, the valley of the Hudson with that of the 
Susquehannah. This improvement was, therefore, of great im- 
portance in a commercial, military, and naval point of view, since 
it would permit the entrance of the steamers or floating batteries 
destined, by the superiority of their speed, and by the range and 
direction of their projectiles, to play a conspicuous part, with the 
co-operation of fortifications erected on vulnerable points, in the 
defence and protection of these great avenues. 

This canal was constructed according to the original plan of 
the Board. It is thirteen miles long, sixty-five feet wide at the 
water line, and nearly ten feet deep. It has two common locks, 
and two safety locks, each one hundred feet long by twenty feet 
eight inches wide. It cost two million seven hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. 

To connect the central with the southern frontier, and to avoid 
the ever-dangerous navigation around Cape Hatteras, which forms 
a sort of promontory between these two frontiers, the Board pro- 
posed to enlarge the Dismal Swamp Canal, already completed 
across the marshy lands in the vicinity of the naval station at 
Norfolk, so as to admit the passage of coasters. On this recom- 
mendation, the general government advanced the company the 
necessary funds for its enlargement. This canal has now the 
following dimensions : Length twenty-three miles ; width forty- 
nine feet ; depth seven feet two inches. Basins, sixty-five feet 
six inches wide, are constructed along the canal at intervals of 
four hundred and thirty-seven yards. Thus, a communication is 



866 AMERICAN POWER. 

established between Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle and Pamlico 
Sounds, to the south of Cape Hatteras, for vessels trading along 
the upper part of that bay and its tributaries. 

From Pamlico Sound, Beaufort, North Carolina, and south of 
Cape Lookout, is very easily reached by means of a canal two 
thousand seven hundred and thirty-four yards long. This small 
canal places the River Neuse in direct communication with 
Beaufort, the only port, except Wilmington, at the mouth of Cape 
Fear River, through which the produce of North Carolina finds 
access to the sea. 

From Beaufort, inland communication may be established 
through the Straits of Stumpy and Toomer, by means of small 
cuts. The mouth of Cape Fear River can be thus reached. From 
this point it would be quite easy to open internal communication, 
through the Waccamaw River, with Georgetown Bay. This bay 
is situated at the confluence of the Waccamaw, Pedee, and Black 
Rivers, and is already connected with the Santee, through the 
Winyaw Canal, which is seven miles and a half long. The San- 
tee is navigable as far as Columbia, the seat of government of 
South Carolina, a distance of one hundred and thirty-six miles. 
It communicates with the Bay of Charleston by a canal twenty-two 
miles long, which, starting at Black Oak Island, fifty-eight miles 
above the mouth of the Santee, empties into the western branch 
of Cooper River. 

Between Charleston and the Savannah River, there is a per- 
fectly safe inland communication, through St. Helena Straits and 
the harbor of Port Royal, one of the best anchorages on this 
coast. 

A canal, navigable for small vessels, also extends from the 
Savannah to the River St. John, in Florida. 

The connection of the inland navigation parallel to the Atlantic 
coast with that presented by the frontier of the Gulf of Mexico, 
by naeans of a canal across the peninsula of Florida, which would 
not only considerably shorten navigation, but would enable vessels 
to avoid the dangers to which they are exposed between the 
Bahama Islands and the coast of Florida, in their course to and 
from the Gulf of Mexico, yet remained a desideratum. 

The Board of Internal Improvement diligently considered this 
project, and declared it to be practicable. A detailed plan of it, 
which was submitted to the general government, I have fully 



IMPORTANCE OF THE FLORIDA CANAL. 367 

described in my special work on the internal improvements in the 
United States. In this work may also be found a detailed account 
of all the other projects suggested and completed by the Board, 
Agreeably to the proposed plan, the canal should have a length 
of one hundred and sixty-seven miles, with a total fall of two 
hundred and twenty-one feet, and locks of sufficiently large di- 
mensions to permit the passage of sail vessels. But this truly 
great national work has not yet been undertaken ; a delay attri- 
butable to the different interpretations of the powers conceded to 
the central government by the Constitution, relative to appropria- 
tions of the public money for internal improvements. I certainly 
cannot pretend to place my opinion against that of the American 
statesmen who have opposed the application of the public 
funds to works of such general interest ; but what I affirm, as an 
engineer, is that the interests of American commerce on the Gulf 
of Mexico are daily acquiring an importance commensurate with 
that of the settlements in the rich valleys of the Alabama and the Mis- 
sissippi. A third part of American commerce now passes through 
the narrow channel between Florida and the Bahama Isles. The 
degree of security that commerce would derive from a canal in 
Florida, in case of a maritime war, is a sufficiently conclusive 
proof of the necessity of so great an improvement. 

Moreover, without this canal, there would be a want of con- 
nection between the means of defence on the coasts of the Atlantic 
and the Gulf of Mexico. Each of these portions of the maritime 
frontier, thus deprived of the advantages of mutual co-operation 
and reciprocal support, would be liable, in turn, to be paralyzed 
by the presence of an enemy's fleet in the Bay of Havana. 

To the American navy, Pensacola is undoubtedly an important 
building station and port of refuge, and affords excellent facilities 
for operating on the Gulf, and extending protection to the outlets 
of the Valley of the Tombigbee, and the Mississippi. But how 
greatly would these advantages be augmented if this military sta- 
tion could be supplied directly from the interior, and preserve a free 
communication with the ports of the Atlantic, and principally with 
the great depots on the Chesapeake Bay, by means of the great line 
of navigation which forms the girdle of the maritime coasts of the 
United States. 

In short, the immediate result of opening the Florida Canal 
would be to hasten the settlement of a portion of the American 



368 AMERICAN POWER. 

territory which at present contains only a scattered population. 
White settlers, attracted by the climate and soil of the country, 
would oppose an effectual barrier to all those hostile combinations 
which, in the present condition of the peninsula, are yet to be 
feared. 

A railroad, occupying the line selected for a canal might, to a 
certain extent, suit the conveniences of the population on the 
shores of the rivers. But in a national, commercial, and strategic 
point of view, nothing can answer the purpose of a large canal. 

Besides, if it be desirable to induce a population to settle on the 
peninsula, the draining of the immense marshes which absorb the 
largest and richest portion of the State, and especially that towards 
the southern extremity of the peninsula, is a matter of the first 
importance. This result cannot be attained except canals and 
ditches are so cut as to unite the stagnant waters into one chan- 
nel, thence to be carried to the sea. 

To all these considerations another is to be added, which derives 
its importance from the part the American nation will hereafter 
take in that struggle, to which we have repeatedly referred, in 
which the two worlds are destined to engage. 

Now, one of the objects of that struggle must necessarily be the 
commerce of the Indies. To insure the monopoly of this trade, 
powerful rivals are striving to construct, for their individual profit, 
a great canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, near the 
Isthmus of Panama. From the very day this canal shall be cut, 
Havana, already so admirably situated in relation to the Antilles, 
the two Americas, and the rest of the world, will become the mid- 
station between Europe and the East Indies. The nation that 
shall then possess this modern Carthage must control the com- 
merce of the two seas, and will be able to paralyze the immense 
trade of the Americans. Even New Orleans, that bright star of 
the west, if not soon supplied with the conditions of sustaining 
the struggle I have indicated — that is to say, unless the Florida 
Canal is completed, and unless certain local advantages are con- 
ceded to it, such as the establishment of a free port — may 
possibly be subject to the law of the most powerful, despite the 
resources of its magnificent river. 

The completion of all the canals I have described will afford 
a continuous inland navigation around the American territory, 
sheltered from all external aggression. The incalculable advan- 



RECAPITULATION. 369 

tages to be derived from such a result cannot escape the attention 
of a people so famed for their foresight, especially in a country 
where real productive industry is substituted for the useless ex- 
penditure of war. May the United States never have cause to 
regret their delay in the completion of these works, especially the 
Florida Canal, which, in my opinion, is more importaut in a 
military, commercial, and economical point of view, than any 
hitherto undertaken ! 

RECAPITULATION. 

The entire length of the canals in the United States opened for 
purposes of trade is four thousand nine hundred and seventy-one 
miles. Cost of construction nearly one hundred million dollars, or, 
about twenty thousand dollars a mile. 

In France, the cost of construction is more than double this 
amount, exceeding forty-eight thousand dollars a mile. This dis- 
parity is explained by the difference in the modes of construction 
pursued in the two countries. The locks, bridges, and dams of 
the American canals, which are generally imperfectly finished, 
are in many cases built of wood, or dry stone-work. Moreover, 
stone and lumber are much cheaper in the United States than 
in France. 

The expense of keeping canals in repair, which, in America, 
is five hundred and eighty to ten hundred and eighty dollars per 
mile, amounts in France only to four hundred and eighty dollars. 
But in England the expense is still greater, varying from seven hun- 
dred and twenty-five to twelve hundred and ninety dollars a tnile. 
This difference is due to the fact that labor is much cheaper in 
France than in England and the United States, and especially to 
the fact that trade is far more brisk on the English and American 
canals than on those of France ; and this increased activity may 
be attributed to the low tolls charged on these canals, as well as 
to the superior condition in which they are kept. 

On the American canals, freight, exclusive of tolls at the locks, 
is charged per ton at the rate of one cent and a third per mile. 

The present toll on the Erie Canal is one cent a ton per mile. 
When the enlargement of this canal shall have been effected, it is 
proposed to reduce the toll to one-fourth of a cent per mile. 

The toll per mile on the Pennsylvania canals is, for stone coal, 
one-half cent per ton ; cast iron, four-fifths of a cent; bar iron, 
24 



370 AMERICAN POWER. 

three-fourths of a cent; pig iron, two-thirds of a cent ; wheat, one- 
half cent; wood, one-half cent. 

The price of passage on a canal boat, including meals, is nearly 
four cents per mile. 

American canals are not generally distinguished by beauty of 
finish, although there are many in New England and New York 
which, for durability of material and style of construction, can 
advantageously compare with the best w^orks of the kind in 
France. But all of them completely answer the purpose for which 
they were intended. Navigation on the canals is seldom inter- 
rupted except by the rigor of the cold weather, which closes all 
the water avenues in the northern portion of the United States. 
The bank of the canal is always kept in good order, and provided 
with a tow path, over which horses can travel with great speed. 
In the United States, such a thing as employing men to haul 
boats is unknown. Where steam ceases to be a useful or avail- 
able motive power, animal power is employed. The latter is 
generally adopted on canals, and is considered the more econo- 
mical of the two, because of the uniform progress it secures, which 
is generally not less than eight or ten miles an hour. 

Iron boats, similar to those used in England, have lately been 
built in the United States, and are considered better, in many 
respects, than ordinary boats. They last from forty to forty-five, 
instead of from five to six years, the ordinary duration of common 
boats, and their tonnage exceeds that of the latter in the propor- 
tion of five to four. 



AMERICAN RAILROADS. 371 



CHAPTER X. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

ARTIFICIAL CHANNELS OP COMMUNICATION. 

RAILROADS. 

Origin of railroads — Common roads in the United States before their introduction — 
Distinctive character of American railroads — How the railroad is directly con- 
nected with the defence of the country — Example of its application in transport- 
ing troops and munitions of war — Economy of its employment — Technical 
details concerning American railroads — Classification; length ; cost; repairs; re- 
turns ; mode of construction — American locomotives — Establishments vi'here they 
are constructed — Cars for baggage and freight — Current expenses of the railroad — 
Fare for passengers ; freight on merchandize — Financial embarrassment result- 
ing from the extraordinary extension of the railroad — The future. 

The distinctive character of the American people is that of 
being eminently productive. In this respect, no country, per- 
haps, with the same population, has equaled them. But in no 
country has an equal degree of activity and constant application 
been exhibited Nvith the object of procuring means of exchange 
for the products of the soil, or additional facilities for their trans- 
portation. 

In the gigantic application, so to speak, of that important 
means of communication and transportation, the railroad, the 
Americans have especially manifested their characteristic intelli- 
gence and their unerring instinct. The employment of all the 
resources which nature has so generously distributed throughout 
their vast and magnificent territory, for the development of com- 
merce and wealth, the principal sources of public happiness, 
would seem to have been the principal and almost exclusive 
object of their lives. 

The American seems to consider the words democracy, liber- 
alism, and railroads as synonymous terms, whether because they 
all equally express the constant object of human effort in the 



372 AMERICAN POWER. 

gradual amelioration of the social condition of man, or because of 
the happy influence of the diffusion of knowledge on all classes 
of society. 

When the question concerning the construction of the railroad 
— an improvement which was so powerfully to second the active 
genius of the Americans — was agitated, public opinion was alone 
invoked. It was no business of the State to decide whether the 
innovation, such as it presented itself, should immediately be 
introduced into the country, with all the imperfections attached 
to a recent discovery, or whether postponement of action until 
some other country should commence the experiment would be 
the wiser course. I well remember this circumstance. The 
Americans did not hesitate a moment. They adopted the dis- 
covery at its inception, and immediately applied it to their neces- 
sities, with due relation to locality. 

This mode of proceeding was rational, for it is difficult to judge 
properly of the merits of any invention, or of the improvements of 
which it is susceptible, apart from direct experience. This course 
the Americans have invariably pursued in all their enterprises. 
They have never believed they could import anything in a state 
of perfection. For the suggestion of improvements which ex- 
perience alone can supply in the varied circumstances peculiar 
to each country, they have considered experiment the only safe 
dependence. 

These practical views are exhibited in everything the Ameri- 
cans undertake ; a circumstance which, among others, must, in 
my opinion, place the United States at the head of all other 
nations in everything that relates to the industrial arts. At all 
events, they have applied steam more extensively, in every branch 
of industry, than any nation in the world. 

It has often been asserted that, prior to the construction of the 
railroad, the United States possessed few facilities of bringing 
together the population scattered throughout the immense territory 
of the Republic. This assertion appears to me incorrect. 

It is true, there have never been any roads in the United States 
so expensively constructed as our royal roads in France ; but the 
number of practicable routes was comparatively more numerous. 
The Americans have, at all times, devoted much attention to this 
department of internal improvement. They have established 
national communications, which I was called myself to trace, 



AMERICAN RAILROADS. 373 

under the orders of General Bernard. While some extend across 
the entire country, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the 
great rivers of the west, and even to the borders of the Gulf of 
Mexico, others form a girdle along the borders of the Atlantic, 
embracing in their course all the commercial capitals from Maine 
to Florida. In short, several States have, at great expense, 
opened them through their own territory. Numerous roads, with 
gates for receiving toll, have also been constructed by compa- 
nies ; and these, even at the present day, are sufficiently pro- 
ductive to pay the expense of keeping them in repair, and to 
yield a small dividend to the stockholders. In no part of the 
world is traveling so common as in the United States. During 
ray long residence in that country, I do not remember that I was 
ever delayed in my journey for want of a four-horse coach. 
Much time, it is true, had been consumed, and much expense 
incurred, in the opening and preservation of so many roads, 
though of comparatively frail construction ; but steam at once 
changed the aspect of affairs in the entire system of transporta- 
tion. 

The establishment of channels affording facilities for rapid 
communication was essential to the commercial progress of the 
United States, to the active genius of the people, and to the 
general prosperity of the country, where each one knows so well 
how to appreciate the advantages of the proper use of time and the 
influence of the productive forces in the various branches of 
industry. 

Moreover, the Americans, with the almost certain prospect of 
losing, in certain cases, a portion of their investments, have freely 
expended their means, knowing well that this expenditure will be 
amply compensated by an invigorated commerce, and by an aug- 
mentation in the manufactures, and an increase in the consump- 
tion, of the country. Hence the enterprises which, within the last 
few years, have so astonishingly developed the power of the 
American nation. 

In the United States, therefore, the permission of the authori- 
ties to construct railroads has alone been sought. The risk and 
expense of the undertaking have been assumed by individual 
enterprise. But in peculiar cases, when the public interest seemed 
to demand it, assistance has been furnished by a particular State. 

The manner in which these railroads are constructed exhibits 



374 AMERICAN POWER, 

the distinctive characteristics of the American people. In general, 
they are remarkable for their simplicity. On these roads, no 
monumental viaduct bridges, no costly earth- work to obtain re- 
duced grades, no long horizontal embankments, are anywhere 
to be seen. The railroad seldom penetrates into the heart of a 
country unless it is essential to navigation, which is generally the 
case. In a word, American railroads never exhibit costly or mis- 
placed luxury, but are always constructed with due relation'to 
the interests of the people. 

In the United States, the railroad is generally built on land that 
has never been occupied. At times it buries itself, as it were, 
in ravines, and then ascends mountains to a height that produces 
dizziness. Sometimes, with less audacity, but a truer courage, 
it is made to pass through subterranean channels. At other 
times it seems, by means of firm, though apparently frail, struc- 
tures, to take its flight, so to speak, across deep valleys, wide 
rivers, immense marshes, tremulous prairies, and even vast 
sheets of water that appear like inland lakes. In the erection of 
these structures, trees are taken from a forest contiguous to the 
road, and, by means of a movable steam machine, made into 
piles, driven into the earth at regular intervals, in double rows, 
and then cut off to the determined level. Thus, in proportion 
as the work advances, it is finished. By this simple and inge- 
nious process, railroads are constructed, as it were, by enchant- 
ment ; for, immediately behind that steam pile-driver, which 
completes the bridge at the rate of two-thirds of a mile a month, 
a locomotive with its train can be put in operation. The road is 
thus at once adapted for its legitimate purposes. 

In localities where the road comes in contact with broken or 
uneven soil, and in which, consequently, extensive excavations, 
always slow and costly, would greatly retard the progress of the 
work, steam has been substituted for manual labor. Thus, in a 
few days, a passage is opened which could not have been effected 
by ordinary means in several months. In fact, nothing stops the 
American in his onward course. He must reach his goal by the 
shortest conceivable route; for in America the value of everything 
is measured by time. 

In the United States, every one hurries onward. It would seem 
as though the earth were not sufficiently large to contain so active 
a body of people ; as though man himself were under the influence 



RELATIONS OF RAILROAD TO NATIONAL DEFENCE. 375 

of the formidable power he has' evoked. But sometimes the 
American pays the price of his temerity. His machine ex- 
plodes, and an eternal repose punishes his unlimited and unbri- 
dled activity. 

The railroad, animated by its powerful locomotive, appears to 
be the characteristic personification of the American. The one 
seems to hear and understand the other — to have been made 
for the other — to be indispensable to the other. The railroad has 
become the strength of the Union. It is the most important of 
the instruments of civilization. Unlike its rival, the canal, its 
utility is unaffected by the ice of winter or the drought of sum- 
mer. At all times, it affords free intercourse of man with man, 
as well as an interchange of the products of his industry. It 
extends its arms towards every city and every village. It pene- 
trates chains of mountains which otherwise would form insur- 
mountable barriers to the inhabitants of the opposite slopes. In 
a word, it can grasp, with its iron hand, the most distant parts of 
the most extensive empire. 

But if the railroad is an indispensable element in the physical 
organization of the vast territory of the American Republic, as it 
is in the moral organization of its active inhabitants, it is not the 
less essential to national defence. In this respect, its efficiency 
may be accurately estimated. In this, strategically speaking, 
undoubtedly consists one of the greatest merits of transportation 
by steam. It becomes, in fact, at once, one of the most formi- 
dable instruments of war, because of the masses of combatants it 
can throw at any moment on a given point. Besides, it will 
prove a great source of economy to the State compared to the 
ordinary mode of transportation. 

The facility which the railroad affords of transporting troops 
and munitions of war must be an immense advantage in every 
country, whatever the circumstances in which it is placed. But 
in the United States, where the distances are so great which 
separate the vulnerable points from those whence assistance can 
be obtained, and where the militia are the principal depend- 
ence in time of war, this advantage is highly augmented. These 
citizen soldiers are called into active service usually for a very 
limited period; for they place too high a value on their time and 
liberty quietly to endure prolonged subjection to the discipline of 
camps. The valuable time heretofore consumed in marches and 



376 AMERICAN POWER. 

countermarches, not only always fatiguing, but often more fatal 
to troops than the fire of an enemy, will henceforth be saved. 
The amount of useful labor economized by the railroad is repre- 
sented by the productive capacity of a number of men equal to 
those at one time uselessly retained in regimentals. 

By means, also, of the numerous canals, but more especially 
of the railroads, which now furrow the vast territory of the Union, 
in almost every direction, the Americans will always be able to 
withstand any foreign war, however threatening it may be, with 
a force much inferior to that which would have been required for 
the protection of their extended frontier, without such ample 
channels of communication. 

It will no longer be necessary to concentrate heavy forces at 
every threatened point on the frontier, since, by means of rail- 
roads parallel to, and converging towards, the coast, numerous 
troops in readiness for action, and much superior to those of the 
enemy, can at any time, and at small expense, be brought to its 
relief. These forces will be able to march in a compact body, 
so as to act simultaneously on their arrival ; whilst, by the ordi- 
nary channels, they could only act in feeble detachments. When 
we add to these advantages the complete absence of all corporeal 
fatigue and the moral energy of the combatants, the superiority 
of the railroad to the common road, even though animal power 
instead of steam were brought into requisition, is strikingly per- 
ceptible. Besides, a portion of the horse belonging to an artil- 
lery company could easily be made to draw the remainder, in 
addition to the necessary ordnance. In like manner could the 
transportation of a corps of cavalry be effected. In this case, 
rapidity of conveyance is not so essential a point to be secured 
as uniformity of motion. 

The advantage the State must derive from canals and railroads 
is incalculable. The money economized in a single campaign 
would equal the entire cost of their construction. The truth of 
this assertion might easily be substantiated by figures. 

During the war of 1812, when the enemy marched on the city 
of Washington, this capital could be relieved only by feeble 
detachments of troops, furnished by Baltimore and the cities of 
the interior at great expense, and exhausted by long marches, 
which unfitted them to take an active part in the defence of so 
important a position. In the present state of the channels of 



RELATIONS OF RAILROAD TO NATIONAL DEFENCE. 377 

communication, the one linked to the other, an immediate 
supply of locomotives, and cars of every description, sufficient 
to transport at once a corps of tvi'enty or twenty-five thousand 
men, with all their camp equipage, and an army of one hundred 
or even two hundred thousand men, in one-tenth of the time 
required by the ordinary mode of conveyance, would be at all 
times available. 

We may also add that this army would not experience fatigue, 
nor leave a man on the road. No shoes or accoutrements would 
be worn out. But the strength of the army would be augmented 
almost in the ratio of the rapidity of its progress. It would also 
be preserved from one of the most potent causes of demoraliza- 
tion, lassitude. 

These considerations, bearing, as it will be perceived, not only 
on the question of economy, but on the subject of humanity, 
deserve our attention. 

Should one of the commercial capitals on the borders of the 
Atlantic be suddenly threatened with invasion by a powerful 
enemy, immense succors might immediately be sent to it within 
a period of* ten or twelve hours, from all the principal centres of 
population in a radius of more than two hundred and fifty miles. 
Should New York, for example, be the obj ect of an unforeseen attack, 
this magnificent city could, in less than five hours, be relieved by 
volunteer militia to the number of at least fifty or sixty thousand, 
from Connecticut, from the upper portions of the Hudson, and 
from New Jersey and Philadelphia ; and reserves equal in num- 
ber might follow in an equal space of time. All these troops 
might take positions on Long Island, Staten Island, and Amboy, 
which, as we have seen, cover the approaches to New York; 
while special bodies of artillery could throw themselves into the 
fortifications constructed on strategic points in readiness for vigor- 
ous resistance. 

Now the measures that would be adopted for the defence of 
New York would be equally available at any point on the coast; 
for, as I have already stated, the great merit of the American 
channels of communication is their concatenation ; and there is 
not a single point in the United States that could not, in emer- 
gency, rely on immediate aid. 

That the great economy realized by railroad conveyance may 
be appreciated, it is necessary to state only a single fact. During 



378 AMERICAN POWER. 

the war of 1812, t|je transportation of a ton of merchandize from 
New York to Pittsburgh cost from one hundred to two hundred 
and forty dollars; and from thirty to forty days elapsed before it 
reached its destination. This freight may now be transported, in 
three days, at the rate of nine or ten dollars. Distance four 
hundred and eighty-five miles. 

The government was obliged, at that period, to pay two hun- 
dred dollars for the transportation of a twelve-pounder from New 
York to Buffalo. 

The American engineers, duly estimating all these advantages 
in relation to the national defence, have calculated the effective 
service which these channels of communication are capable of 
rendering in the concentration of troops at given points. The 
results of their investigations are embodied in a general report, 
submitted to the government in 1820. This report is now en- 
rolled among the archives of the War Department. 

The relations of the railroad to the navy, to fortifications, 
and to floating batteries for the defence of the mouths of rivers 
and certain bays, have always been carefully borne in mind. 
Hence, of all systems of national defence, that of the United States 
is unquestionably the most economical, and the most effective ; 
for, while it permits the navy, as I have already said, to act freely 
on the vast ocean, its national battle-field, it enables an adequate 
land force to act at any moment on any assailable point of the 
frontier. 

If the railroad could be constructed in accordance with the 
strict rules of strategy, its efficiency would undoubtedly be greatly 
improved ; but it is very difficult to reconcile the military and the 
commercial exigencies of a people. The selection of one side of 
a river, for the course of a road, because of certain strategic ad- 
vantages it presents, might involve an expenditure altogether 
disproportionate to the population to be removed ; while, at the 
same time, this population might derive a positive advantage from 
a road constructed on the opposite shore. 

In the United States, less than anywhere else, could such a 
result be attained ; for there everything is directed by individual 
interest. The central power of itself exerts but little influence on 
internal relations. Nevertheless, if the railroads of the United 
States do not present, as a whole, that systematic completeness 
resulting from the exclusive pursuit of a strategic object, a plan 



TECHNICAL DETAILS. 379 

wisely suggested by a general of the United . States army, they 
depart so little from a true standard that in the end the same 
result is secured. Thus, in America, the individual energy of 
the citizen will have accomplished that which, in other countries, 
can only be attained by the force of governmental centralization. 

While every improvement in the channels of communication 
has, as we have just shown, a direct relation to the national de- 
fence, it especially tends to develop the agricultural industry of 
the country, the fundamental basis of public prosperity, and to 
consolidate the internal peace of the citizen. Moreover, such 
improvements are fruitful sources of revenue to particular States, 
and thus form a mysterious link between the general interests of 
the government and those of the people. In thus favoring the 
productive genius of the Americans, they repel the political and 
industrial inroads of England. But an influence, not less re- 
markable, is that which they exercise over the moral character of 
the people, by bringing, as it were, to the door of each citizen 
that intellectual vigor which alone enables a people to live free. 
By these improvements, in fine, all the inhabitants have equal 
access to the precious gifts of education and religion. The light 
of Christianity quickens and enlightens the inhabitants of the 
republic almost in the same degree that a uniform education 
enables them to appreciate the political principles by which they 
are governed. 

Under such circumstances, where a people has been sufficiently 
wise and foresighted to give the greatest possible development to 
instruction, founded on the immutable principles of a sound reli- 
gion, laws have so pow^erful a hold upon the hearts of men as to 
exclude the possibility of anarchy. 

Such have been the consequences of the system of democracy 
in the United States, a system which, by giving to suffrage the 
utmost possible latitude, appeals to the entire intellectual strength 
of the nation. 

TECHNICAL DETAILS CONCERNING RAILROADS. 

American improvements are the result of the association of 
citizens directly interested in their completion. Still, in many 
instances, as we have said, particular States have appropriated 
a portion of their revenues to works of general utility. In these 
cases, the necessary funds have been obtained through loans, the 



380 AMERICAN POWER. 

payment of which, with the interest, has been guaranteed by the 
legislature. Occasionally, the general government has taken 
part in these truly national enterprises. 

At the end of the year 1847, the entire extent of railroad com- 
pleted, or in course of completion, in the United States, was 
from seven to ten thousand miles, the cost of which will amount 
to not less than three hundred and twenty million dollars! 

All the lines of this immense network are connected with one 
another, as well as with the various canals of the Union. They 
open direct outlets from the coal and iron regions to the centres 
of manufacture — from the different navigable harbors to the most 
distant points in the interior — from the agricultural regions to the 
great centres of exportation. In short, they directly connect the 
Atlantic seaboard with the Ohio, the Mississippi, the St. Law- 
rence, and with Canada and the Lakes. Thus, their vivifying in- 
fluence is felt from Maine to Georgia, from Georgia to Louisiana, 
and from Kentucky to Michigan. Of all the ties which connect 
together the various interests of this vast republic, they are the 
most indissoluble. 

In England, at the same period, there were two thousand six 
hundred and sixty-seven miles of railroad, finished or in course 
of completion, eleven hundred miles of which were open to trade. 
The amount of capital invested in these enterprises was two 
hundred and eighty-eight million dollars. 

In the United States, where most of the roads have but one 
track, though cut and graded for two, the investment amounted 
only to ninety-eight million dollars. The cost of constructing a 
road in this manner slightly exceeded eighteen thousand dollars a 
mile. Hence, it is evident that the railroads of England cost six 
times more than those of the United States. 

Nevertheless, the best constructed roads in the United States, 
with a single track, have cost from forty-one to forty-five thousand 
dollars per mile. At the present time, according to the novel 
mode of lajdng rails on wood, the expense per mile is not more 
than twenty-five thousand dollars. 

The annual expense of keeping these roads in repair is from 
seven to eight hundred dollars per mile. 

The railroads of the United States are naturally divided into 
four great classes: — 

The first class, composed of several lines, extends along the 



CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS. 381 

whole Atlantic seaboard, and connects together the principal com- 
mercial cities that lie between Maine and Florida — Portland, 
Portsmouth, Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, Norfolk, Fredericksburg, Wilmington, Charleston, Augusta, 
and Pensacola. This line is one thousand miles in length, and 
is the joint work of twenty different companies. 

The second comprises all the lines constructed with the object 
of uniting the Atlantic seaboard with the countries beyond the 
Alleghanies. Thus, from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, Richmond, Charleston, Savannah, Pensacola, and New 
Orleans, railroads extend to the great Valleys of the Ohio and 
Mississippi, and even to the shores of the Missouri, and unite 
with a third division in course of construction in the interior of 
the country, towards the regions of the north-west, which is to 
unite Indianapolis with Cincinnati, and Milwaukie with Chicago 
and Detroit. 

Other lines extend to the borders of the great Lakes, and in 
crossing, connect together, numerous canals and navigable rivers. 

A fourth class includes all the railroads constructed for indus- 
trial purposes. These are very numerous, and directly contribute 
to the prosperity of the country by opening outlets and creating 
safe markets for the immense beds of combustible minerals found 
in almost every portion of the Union. 

These lines form a chain of arteries that distribute life to the 
great industrial body of the Republic. 

It cannot be denied that the Americans, in some instances, 
have ventured unwarily on these enterprises, which always in- 
volve so heavy an expenditure of capital. Nevertheless, I believe 
that the railroad will ultimately become the principal source of 
the prosperity of the United States. 

It is difficult, at present, to arrive at an accurate knowledge of 
the returns of these channels of communication. They are gene- 
rally supposed to yield, on the average, a profit of five per cent. 
^ Some barely pay expenses; while others pay a dividend as high 
as fourteen per cent. Those at the north yield eight per cent. ; 
and the stock of these roads is now as eagerly sought as it was 
at one time shunned. 

Thus, the people of Massachusetts, after having expended, in 
their own State, one hundred million dollars on railroads, have 
invested their capital in the same enterprises in Connecticut, 
New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. 



382 AMERICAN POWER. 

The net revenues of American railroads have generally doubled 
in five years. 

The road which connects New York with Philadelphia is 
eighty-five miles long, and cost fifty-four thousand five hundred 
dollars a mile. The number of passengers which annually pass 
between the two cities is two hundred thousand; amount of 
merchandize transported fourteen thousand tons. Fare three 
dollars ; freight seven dollars per ton. This road, besides yield- 
ing an annual dividend never less than six per cent., has paid 
for itself in seven years. 

The railroad from Philadelphia to Baltimore, ninety miles long, 
cost fifty-four thousand three hundred dollars per mile. Annual 
number of passengers from one hundred and twenty to one 
hundred and fifty thousand. Fare, four dollars. 

The railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, constructed by 
the State of Pennsylvania, is eighty miles long, and cost nearly 
sixty thousand dollars a mile. Annual transportation, seventy- 
five thousand passengers and nine thousand tons of merchandize. 
Fare three dollars and twenty-five cents. Freight, seven dollars 
and fifty cents per ton. This railway opens the communication 
of the seaboard with the west, and is used more for the transporta- 
tion of merchandize than for the conveyance of passengers. 

The railway from Boston to Worcester is forty-three miles 
long, and cost per mile forty thousand dollars. Annual transporta- 
tion, from six to seven hundred thousand passengers, and, what is 
of still greater consequence, thirty thousand tons of merchandize. 
Net receipts per annum one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. 
This railroad, which was constructed by the people of New 
England, forms part of the line from Boston to Albany. It is 
designed to bring the produce of the western regions and of the 
great Lakes directly to the wharves of Boston, thus competing 
with the railroad which connects Buflfalo with Albany, the head 
of navigation of the Hudson. 

The entire line from Boston to Lake Erie is five hundred miles 
long. That portion which extends from Boston to Albany is nearly 
two hundred miles long, and cost nine million dollars; an ex- 
penditure, consequently, exceeding the cost of the Erie and 
Champlain Canals, constructed by the State of New York.* 

* This road, called the Wester7i Eailroad, was completed in four years. 
To accelerate the progress of the work, a steam excavator, invented by Mr. 



RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 383 

It is interesting to inquire by what principle of reasoning the 
people of New England have been induced to incur such an 
immense expenditure. The solution of the inquiry exhibits the 
high degree of intelligence they possess concerning questions of 
economy. ".Experience," they have said, "has demonstrated 
that the time, the labor, and the expense economized by the rail- 
way in the transportation of merchandize or passengers, may be 
considered equal to three-fourths of the cost of transportation by 
the ordinary routes. Now, as this transportation, by the common 
roads in the State of Massachusetts, may be estimated to cost not 
less than sixteen million dollars annually, it is evident that three- 
fourths of this amount, twelve million dollars, may be directly 
saved by the construction of a railway. Every month, therefore, 
the construction of such a road is delayed is equivalent to an ex- 
penditure of one million dollars." 

Why cannot our economists in France take a few practical 
lessons in political economy from those of New England, and 
learn that the surest method of mitigating the burden of taxes 
and imposts is to know how to make expenditures that will secure 
the people the most available channels of communication.? 

The railroad from Boston to Lowell was completed in 1835. 
It is twenty-five miles long, and cost one million eight hundred 
thousand dollars. In 1841, the net receipts of this road amounted 
to one hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars. 

I have often had occasion to speak of the noble sentiment of 
rivalry which animates the Americans in their attempts to open a 
direct communication between the Atlantic seaboard and the 
fertile regions of the west. To this spirit of competition we must 
attribute the completion of all the lines referred to in the present 
work, and in my special works on the internal improvements in 
the United States. 

The citizens of New York have just given another example of 
their rare and characteristic enterprise. They were the first to 
open navigable communication between the Lakes and the Hud- 
son. They have now undertaken the construction of a railroad 

Otis, was used with great advantage. This machine usually excavated 
from twenty-six hundred to three thousand three hundred cubic feet in 
twelve hours. It operated well in sandy soils, in soils containing large 
holders in abundance, and even in quicksands; but it was especially 
adapted to a clayey and gravelly soil. 



384 AMERICAN POWER. 

leading directly from New York to Lake Erie, a project conceived 
so early as 1834. This road commences on the Hudson River, 
twenty-two miles above New York, and extends to Dunkirk, on 
Lake Erie, to the west of Buffalo. Its entire length is four hundred 
and thirteen miles, or, including the city of New York, four 
hundred and fifty-four miles. It was to have been opened in 
1845. Its cost is estimated at from nine to ten million dollars, of 
which amount the State furnishes six and individual stockholders 
three millions. 

Two hundred miles of the road are built on piles, traverses, 
and girders, by means of a new mode of pile-driving by steam, 
now in general use in the United States. By this method, a 
road can be constructed in a much shorter time than by the ordi- 
nary method; but its principal merit consists in the fact that it 
greatly reduces the expense for repairs and the cost of vehicles 
of transportation. 

To facilitate the management of the road, the course is divided 
into stations seventy-seven miles apart, upon which are placed 
locomotives of different power, according to the ascent required 
to be overcome. The greatest inclinations, which are concen- 
trated within short distances, do not exceed from thirty-seven to 
fifty-eight feet to the mile, a difficulty which, at the present time, 
American locomotives easily surmount. 

On this railroad, the freight per ton on heavy merchandize is 
thirteen dollars and twenty cents; on light goods twelve dollars 
per ton. Thus, merchandize can be transported from New York 
to Lake Erie, on this road, at a cheaper rate than by the Cham- 
plain Canal. 

Another enterprise, which now occupies the attention of the 
merchants of New York, is the construction of a railroad leading 
from that of Harlem to Albany, a distance of one hundred and 
forty-three miles. It is estimated that this road, with one track, 
though graded and prepared for two tracks, will cost four million 
dollars. The trade between New York and Albany will thus be 
untrammeled at any season of the year. 

To insure the completion of this great undertaking, an appeal 
has been made to all who are interested in the matter. Thus, it 
has been proposed : — 

1st. That the State shall guarantee six per cent, interest on a 



ADVANTAGES OF THE RAILROAD. 885 

capital sufficient to pay the expenses of cutting and grading the 
road. 

2d. That those who live along the shore shall furnish the land 
necessary for the road and for the stations, and take shares equiva- 
lent to its value. 

3d. That the city of Albany, at the extremity of the line, shall 
subscribe capital for a stipulated amount of stock. 

4th. That the city of Troy, on the left bank of the Hudson, a 
short distance above Albany, interested in an equal degree in 
the success of the enterprise, shall also subscribe for a given 
amount of stock. 

5th. That New York, the most interested of all the parties, 
shall bear all the expense of the vehicles of transportation and of 
the construction of station-houses and termini, 

6th. The great capitalists of New York have consented to sub- 
scribe a sum equal to one-fourth of the capital stock, to cover the 
expense of laying the track, and to furnish the necessary wood, 
rails, &c. for this purpose. And as a recompense to the principal 
merchants for their honorable participation in the enterprise, it is 
proposed that their names be inscribed on a monumental arch, 
which shall decorate the entrance of this railway into the metro- 
polis. 

Three years will be sufficient to complete this great railway. 

The success of this enterprise is based on the circumstance 
that two thousand persons are daily traveling from the one to 
the other extreme point of this line. Notwithstanding the price 
of passage by the steamboat is but one-fourth of a cent per 
mile, while that by the railroad will be rather more than three- 
fourths of a cent, still, when we consider that a trip on the Hud- 
son occupies from ten to twelve hours, during which time the 
passengers are exposed to the inconvenience occasioned by dense 
crowding in a warm place, while a trip on the railway will be 
performed in six or seven hours, affording to each passenger fresh 
wholesome air, and a comfortable resting-place, there is every 
reason to suppose that the railroad will receive its fair share of 
public support. Besides, since the introduction of steam on the 
Hudson, the number of passengers has doubled every five years. 

The navigation companies on the Hudson annually declare 
dividends of twenty-one to thirty per cent. Hence, the introduc- 
tion of a new competition may safely be permitted ; otherwise, 
25 



880 AMERICAN POWER. 

the dividends of these companies will, in a short time, amount to 
sixty per cent. 

The Americans usually employ two kinds of rail: the n rail, 
and the T rail. The latter is most in use. It has a flat 
base, which gives it a firm position on the sleepers on which 
it immediately rests. This rail is of American invention, and 
has been universally substituted for the flat rail. Experience has 
proved that the economy realized by its use in relation to the cost 
of repairing vehicles of transportation, bears, compared to the 
latter, the proportion of 142 to 145. 

But one of the principal causes of this reduction is undoubtedly 
the mode adopted by the Americans of laying their rails. They 
generally fit them on traverses, resting on sleepers, but most 
commonly on the sleepers themselves, by this means furnishing 
them a continuous support. The sleepers rest on traverses, 
sometimes on pieces of wood placed across the track, but obliquely 
to its axis. On land not possessing the required solidity, such 
as turf, and spongy and marshy grounds, the track is laid on 
piles driven in by the steam pile-driver which we have already 
described. This machine drives two rows of piles simultaneously, 
to the number of sixty or seventy daily, at a cost of less than 
twenty or thirty cents per yard. 

The n rail w^eighs thirteen pounds and a half per foot. 
The T rail, with a flat base, weighs eighteen pounds per foot. 
It can bear a pressure of from eight to ten tons at its weakest 
part, and thus support the heaviest locomotives and the longest 
trains. 

The Americans have greatly improved the construction of their 
locomotives. Not ten years since, thirty or forty tons were con- 
sidered as much as they could be made to draw on a horizontal 
plane. Now, a single locomotive can draw from four to five 
hundred tons with facility. 

The new locomotives have eight wheels, four of which are 
driving-wheels, acting each with a friction equal to two tons. In 
descending grades, they usually draw trains equal to four or five 
hundred tons, and in ascending grades, equal to two hundred or 
two hundred and fifty tons. 

Generally, however, the burden of the trains daily drawn on 
the railroad between New York and Philadelphia, and on the 
railroads of Pennsylvania, is one hundred and fifty tons. 



LOCOMOTIVE FACTORIES. 387 

In the United States, there are now several establishments 
where these machines are manufactured, not only for domestic 
use but for exportation; for the superiority of their power of 
traction proportional to their weight, as well as of their workman- 
ship, has opened for them a market in England and Germany. 

Locomotives from the factory of Mr. William Norris, of Phila- 
delphia, are used on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway in 
England, and on that of Berlin and Frankfort in Prussia. 

This establishment has acquired, of late years, so high a repu- 
tation for its excellent machines, that it may be considered one of 
the great workshops of the United States. 

To the locomotives of Mr. Norris, a tender is attached, which 
runs on eight wheels, so that the weight of the locomotive and 
tender is equally distributed on the rails. These locomotives can 
be delivered in complete order at the rate of seven thousand five 
hundred dollars each, and shipped to any port in Europe. Mr. 
Norris, on delivering a locomotive, makes an agreement to keep 
it in good order, at the rate of six hundred dollars a year, for ten 
years, on condition that an engineer sent by himself be employed 
to take charge of it ; the proper use of an engine depending 
much upon the practical experience of its conductor. 

The establishment of Mr. Baldwin, of Philadelphia, is also 
celebrated for its excellent locomotives. His machines are con- 
structed with six wheels, and weigh each eleven tons. This 
weight is equally distributed on the wheels, all of which are 
driving-wheels. This enables them to pass over curves of very 
short diameter with great facility. 

Mr. Ross Winan, of Baltimore, also possesses a splendid estab- 
lishment, where engines and wagons of great power are manu- 
factured. The locomotives of this factory run on eight driving- 
wheels, and weigh each nineteen tons. 

New York and New Jersey also possess establishments for 
the construction of locomotives. That at Paterson is in high 
repute. 

The factories at Lowell, Massachusetts, have acquired great 
celebrity for the quality of the material and for the finish of their 
machines. 

American locomotives, on American railroads, cost, under 
ordinary circumstances, from six to eight hundred dollars a year 
or repairs. They generally last ten years, running at the rate 



388 AMERICAN POWER. 

of from seventeen to twenty thousand miles a year, with a speed 
of twenty or twenty-five miles an hour. 

The cars for passengers have also received improvements cha- 
racteristic of the genius and the manners of the Americans. 
These cars are from thirty-four to forty feet long, and about nine 
faet wide. They are divided through the longitudinal centre by 
a passage, on either side of which are the seats. Some of the 
cars have a separate apartment for ladies. At the extremity of 
each car in the train, there is a platform, enabling the passengers 
to pass from one car to another. An American could ill endure 
our mode of traveling, forced to keep a certain seat, in a small 
car, under lock and key. He would pant for air, he would suffo- 
cate. 

Each of these cars is set on eight wheels, joined together four 
by four. The separation of the four front wheels from the hind 
wheels is merely sufficient to secure free motion. These cars 
are substantially built, can carry sixty passengers, and cost about 
twenty-eight hundred dollars each, delivered on the road. 

The most celebrated builders of these cars in the United States 
are Messrs. Betts, Pusey, and Harland, of Wilmington, Delaware. 

From Philadelphia to Baltimore, passengers generally travel by 
night. Thus, from two to three hundred persons at a time can 
take comfortable rest in a species of reclining chair, so arranged 
as to enable one to lean his head on its back without jostling, or 
being jostled by, his neighbor. 

Cars for the transportation of coal weigh one ton and three 
quarters, and carry a load equal to three tons and a half. At 
present, the wheels of these cars last from six to eight, instead 
of four years ; a result due to the substitution of lard for oil 
during eight months of the year. Thus, a saving of fifty per 
cent, is realized in this item of railroad expenditure. 

The Americans estimate the loss consequent on the necessary 
repairs of passenger and other cars, and that resulting from 
supernumerary cars, at from twenty to twenty-five per cent, of 
their original value. 

In the United States, the current expenses of running the cars 
on a railroad amount yearly to from three thousand five hundred 
to four thousand two hundred dollars a mile. 

Experience has proved that short courses are less profitable 
than long ones, as well in relation to the locomotive as to the 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. 389 

expense of traction. It has also shown that uniformity in the 
weight of trains is of great advantage. In general, railroads are 
more advantageous in coal districts than in other localities. 

RATES OF FARE AND FREIGHT ON AMERICAN RAILROADS, 

The rates of fare and freight are regulated by competition, and 
by the profits realized in specific cases. In most cases, these pro- 
fits increase in the ratio of the reduction of the price of trans- 
portation. 

The price of transportation can never be fixed at the opening 
of a road. It is determined after the number of passengers and 
the amount of merchandize which pass on it are accurately esti- 
mated. It has been generally observed that, after the opening of 
a railroad, the number of passengers in a given direction has 
increased fourfold. Wherever established, this channel of com- 
munication has invariably paid expenses. 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. 

A means of transmitting thought in harmony with the won- 
drous development of the means of rapid transportation, in the 
United States, through the introduction of steam, seemed to be 
required. This necessity occasioned the invention and applica- 
tion of the electric telegraph. 

This splendid discov-ery, due to Professor Morse, an American, 
received its immediate application through the co-operation of 
individual interests. 

The electric telegraph is now the property of joint stock com- 
panies. The special merit of the improved American telegraph 
consists in the fact that the news transmitted is immediately im- 
pressed on paper. 

A telegraphic line, now in full operation, puts the cities of 
Portland, Lowell, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore 
in continuous relation with Washington, the seat of government. 

This main line has received branches extending from New 
York to Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo on Lake Erie ; and from 
Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling on the 
Ohio. 

The total length of these various lines is nearly eighteen hun- 



390 AMERICAN POWER. 

dred miles. The line from St. Louis to New Orleans is in course 
of completion, and will soon be finished.* The entire line will 
then be about six thousand two hundred and ten miles. 

Thus, we see realized, in the new hemisphere, that combina- 
tion of interests which is to blend all its inhabitants in one common 
feeling of nationality ; a result of the highest importance, since it 
includes the power of the people to appreciate, almost simultane- 
ously, what affects th^ir moral, political, and material welfare. 
In this way, a community is rendered strong, prosperous, and 
independent. 



CHAPTER XI. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 
THE REGULAR ARMY. 

Numerical force of the American army — Power of Congress to increase it, accord- 
ing to necessity — Corps of officers ; its distinctive character — No retired Hst author- 
ized by law — Mode of recruiting — Difference of rank between the commissioned 
and non-commissioned officers — Discipline of the garrisons and encampments 
of the federal troops — The prerogatives of the municipal authority always respect- 
ed — No body of troops can be stationed in any State without the permission of 
the local authorities. 

The Americans keep a very small standing army, relatively to 
the extent of their territory, and their rank as a nation; a number 
merely sufficient to keep their fortifications in order, to protect 
their western frontier from the incursions of the Indians, and to 
secure respect on that of Canada. This state of things does not 
arise from a want of military spirit, but from the attachment of 
the people to their democratic institutions, and from the convic- 
tion, acquired by a practical knowledge of freedom, that the spirit 
of subordination, so essential to keep a numerous regular army 
under arms, is not only incompatible with liberty, but is its first 
and most dangerous enemy. 

Therefore, only about twelve thousand or thirteen thousand men 
are employed in the service of the State, who are recruited by 

* It is now in full operation. — Tr. 



THE AMERICAN ARMY. 391 

voluntary enlistment. For the organization and composition of 
the American army, see Part L, Chapter VII. of my last work, 
Democracy in the United States. 

The only equitable, rational, and effectual method of giving to 
the country an armed national force, susceptible of the highest 
possible elevation of patriotism and devotion, is not recognized by 
the Americans. The law of conscription, which France owes to 
the republic, and which is based on the sublime principles of jus- 
tice and nationality, obliges every citizen, without exception, to 
contribute to the defence of the country. It is, therefore, emi- 
nently democratic. Nevertheless, it has not yet been applied to 
the recruiting of the regular army in the United States; because 
such are the democratic susceptibilities of the American that he 
would be alarmed at the influence which a military chieftain 
might acquire over his subordinates, and the use he might make 
of it against the institutions of his country. 

In my opinion, the American legislators gravely erred in 
neglecting to acknowledge, among the organic laws of their 
country, the principle of conscription. They should have admit- 
ted the principle, modified, it is true, agreeably to the national 
repugnance to the imposition of long service by the State, and to 
the exigencies of their insular position, so secure from invasion by 
large armies. They would thus have acted with wisdom, with 
patriotism, and with justice; they would, in fine, have acted con- 
sistently with their character, and in consonance with their excel- 
lent institutions. 

Still, the Americans acknowledge the utility of the system of 
conscription, in their militia service; and the effective force of the 
regular army can always be increased to the necessary contingent 
according to circumstances. The general government is charged 
with this duty, through the national legislature. Hence, on a 
recent occasion, the President of the United States was author- 
ized to increase the regular army from twelve to fifty thousand 
men, if, in his opinion, the exigencies of the country should require 
the augmentation. 

Hence, agreeably to this organization, the effective force of the 
army can be increased twofold, without any increase in the num- 
ber of its commissioned and non-commissioned officers. 

The corps of American officers, although limited in number, is 
remarkable for its military knowledge, its moral character, its 



892 AMERICAN POWER. 

spirit of discipline, and its sentiment of honor and patriotism. It 
is entirely composed of men who have been educated in the na- 
tional military academy at West Point. For the description of 
this academy, its administration, studies, &c., see the work just 
referred to. 

Attached, therefore, to a military life from taste, not because 
it is the only resource society offers them, they share all the pas- 
sions to which this career gives birth in a country whose advanced 
posts, on the frontier, in the midst of Indian tribes, constantly 
furnish a degree of excitement, interest, and peril, which consti- 
tutes the charm of the military life. Thus, they acquire a feeling 
peculiar to themselves. They belong to one family ; they are 
exposed to the same dangers ; they endure the same privations 
and enjoy the same pleasures. Living with hopes common to 
them all, their devotion to their country finds no rival emo- 
tion in their breasts but that respect for the civil law which is the 
foundation of the happiness, prosperity, and greatness of their 
country. 

But what particularly distinguishes the American oiEficer is that 
his entrance into the army does not entirely sever all the ties that 
attach him to civil life. In fact, he does not abandon this life for 
ever. After a few years of military service, he finds it his inte- 
rest to return to it. I scarcely know the number of officers, my 
former companions in arms in America, that I have seen return 
to active civil life. Disgust or weariness did not prompt these 
men to leave the military service ; but, rather, the desire to defend 
specific interests in the legislature, or to consummate ambitious 
projects which can be pursued successfully only in a civil career. 
But, in these cases, the army was sure to receive, from all its 
former members, the same marks of interest and esteem that had 
been imbibed at a common source, the military family. 

The American officer does not believe that he treads in a sphere 
superior to that which he occupied in the bosom of civil life, be- 
cause he has obtained high rank in the army; for, although 
he receives a commission from the President, with the approba- 
tion of the Senate, which the Chief Magistrate may at pleasure 
take from him, he is well aware that, above the w^ill of the 
President, there is a national will expressed by elections, which 
exercises a direct control over every branch of the administration ; 



ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. 393 

and that the President is, like himself, controlled by the supreme 
law of the land, popular suffrage. 

Besides, the American officer is animated by the feeling that 
his rank, as a member of a disciplined corps, on which society 
always has aft eye, imposes upon him a rigid, and, as it were, 
difrnified course of conduct. The uniform he wears, like the coat 
of the austere churchman, merely designates the body to which 
he belongs. 

As the rank of the American officer confers but few advan- 
tages, the legislature has done merely an act of justice in secur- 
ing to him the enjoyment of the position he occupies. Therefore, 
he remains on the full pay army list as long as he retains his 
faculties ; for, in the United States, the retired civil or military 
list is unknown. Pensions are generously provided for officers 
and soldiers who have become invalids in the service of the 
United States. 

The American army need not fear the influence of prolonged 
peace on the habits and feelings of its officers, for their life is 
passed in active service, which fits them for a state of war. 
Accustomed to long marches, under the various climates of their 
immense territory ; always kept on the alart by an active and 
vigilant enemy on the frontier, where more than three-fourths of 
their life is passed, they preserve a taste for arms and for the ex- 
citement and perils incident to a military career. 

But one of the most striking defects in the organization of the 
American army is the present mode of enlistment. The re- 
cruits are generally men who, as laborers or mechanics, receive 
much higher compensation than in the military service. They 
must, therefore, be infected with some moral infirmity, which 
renders them unfit for a useful and laborious life. Consequently, 
this lack of moral force in the composition of the army must be 
counterpoised by a very strict system of discipline. And a fact 
which must excite astonishment is that there are no troops whose 
sluggish and impassive physiognomy contrasts so strangely with 
the national character as those of the United States. 

The adoption of the law of conscription would correct this 
anomaly in the civil and military habits of the Americans. It is 
to be regretted that their manners, their spirit of independence, 
their just appreciation of the value of time, are opposed to the 
realization of military servitude for an adequate length of time. 



394 AMERICAN POWER. 

The American consents to depart from this general rule of his 
life only when the country, in time of danger, makes an appeal 
to all his energy. In this case, he knows how to take his place 
in the ranks of the army, and, by rare activity, intelligence, and 
impetuosity, to supply the lack of -discipline. 

Another equally striking defect in the composition of the Ame- 
rican army is the complete isolation of the commissioned from 
the non-commissioned officers. This state of things, borrowed 
from English usage, is not recognized, it is true, by the laws 
which govern promotion iji the American army ; but opinion and 
custom, often more potent than laws, raise an insurmountable 
barrier between the two classes. The corps of non-commissioned 
officers occupies an inert position between the soldier and the 
commissioned officer. 

Nevertheless, it should always be recollected that the regular 
army plays a very powerless part in the political organization of 
the United States. In time of peace, it is placed along the inland 
frontier to protect the outposts, and along the coast to keep the 
fortifications in good condition. 

Hence, the greater part of these troops live entirely beyond Ame- 
rican society. Still, as the protection of military arsenals is the duty 
of the federal troops, the result is that men subject to martial law 
live in the midst of a society where civil law is in full vigor. 

This juxtaposition is never attended with inconvenience, for 
the common law governs the citizens, and martial law the federal 
troops within the jurisdiction and limits of the territory belonging 
to the central government. 

Hence, there is nothing to prevent the army, or a portion of the 
army, from residing where the Congress of the United States 
holds its sessions, or in cities where the State legislatures are 
established. The United States has a small garrison in charge 
of a military arsenal in Washington city; one at Frankford, near 
Philadelphia, which now forms part of this city, through the 
extension of its suburbs; and federal troops are quartered, at 
New York and at New Orleans, on property belonging to the 
Union. 

But in the United States no body of troops could ever encamp 
or establish themselves on property within the jurisdiction of a 
city or a particular State, without the permission of competent 
civil authorities. 



THE MILITIA. 895 

In conclusion, it may be stated, as an established fact, that 
neither the federal government nor any particular State has ever 
felt the necessity of passing repressive laws against any military 
despotism. 

In the United States, every citizen is armed, and feels that he 
is the guardian of his personal rights against any attempts or 
aggressions of a foreign enemy. But when he is called upon to 
defend his rights as a citizen, the only weapon he believes his 
duty requires him to use is the ballot box. 



CHAPTER XII. 

NATIONAL DEFENCE. 

THE MILITIA. 

The militia the principal element of national defence — Peculiar aptitude of the 
Americans for defensive war — Numerical force of the militia — No State law 
prohibits the collection of troops on the spot where an election is held — Electoral 
rights of the people maintained by the laws. 

" The best wall of a city," said Agesilaus, "is its population." 
" The best defenders of the institutions and independence of a 
country," say the Americans, "are the citizen militia." In fact, 
in a truly free country, every citizen ought to be a soldier, and 
every soldier a citizen. The defence of the soil should depend 
not only on the regular army, but more especially on the citizen 
militia. Now, the American nation is composed of citizens ani- 
mated by a national spirit and by an ardent desire to preserve 
their liberty. Therefore, the resources of such a nation, in time 
of war, are immense ; for, when it appeals to arms in defence of 
its rights, independence, and honor, it rises up as a single man, 
and thus, through unity of action, becomes irresistible. 
f Among the Americans, the militia is the principal element of 
public strength. In their system of defence, the regular army 
forms the vanguard, and the militia constitute a powerful reserve, 
on whose active co-operation rest the destinies of the country. The 
leading object which all who have attempted to solve the problem 
involved in the defence of the American soil have sought to secure 



396 AMERICAN POWER. 

is the concentration, by every available facility, of the largest possi- 
ble masses of militia on strong positions at the most vulnerable points 
of the territory. On this principle, New York, the metropolis of 
American commerce on the Atlantic, and New Orleans at the 
mouth of the immense Mississippi, have been fortified. It has 
been seen, in the chapter on the channels of communication, that 
more than two hundred thousand combatants may be concentrated 
on these points in a few hours, by means of the railroad, the canal, 
or the steamboat. 

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that from such soldiers, 
we cannot expect the blind, passive, and always uniform obedi- 
ence of regular disciplined troops. The education and com- 
position of the two differ essentially. But what the former lack 
in subordination, they make up in patriotism. A noble ardor, 
which is the fruit of liberty, and a correct appreciation of his 
own worth, give to the citizen soldier of America an immense 
advantage ; for his intellect thus acquires a degree of vigor 
which makes him equal to all the difficulties and contingencies 
of war. 

The American citizen soldier also possesses a great advantage 
over the European soldier in his power of enduring the fatigues 
of war. Accustomed to manage a horse from infancy, to take 
long walks, to swim, to encamp, to hunt, to explore distant lands, 
scarcely populated, in part uncultivated, and to traverse rocky 
and marshy soils, rivers, wild forests, in a variety of climates, 
his constitution acquires a degree of vigor and hardiness corre- 
sponding to the penetration and sagacity of his mind. 

Thus, the Americans have all the qualities requisite for excel- 
lent soldiers. Their interests and tastes, it is true, are opposed 
to war ; but by their physical and moral habits, by their specula- 
tive tendencies, they are well prepared for it. Although war be 
a scourge which they seek to avoid as much as possible, they do 
not fear it; because they know a war must result only to their 
advantage. 

I sincerely believe, from my personal knowledge of all the 
resources of the American nation, that it is fully prepared to 
baffle any project which an audacious rival may form against it, 
with the object of paralyzing or destroying its powerful compe- 
tition in markets which itself alone had heretofore supplied, 
and of thus checking its career of prosperity. But I also believe 



CHARACTER OF THE AMERICAN MILITIA. 397 

that the Americans, infected with an indifference characteristic 
of the nation, will, at the commencement of a war, be ill pre- 
pared to resist the attacks of a powerful and daring enemy, 
who, in a few days, by means of steam, may unexpectedly fall 
on one of the points of their immense coast, and there carry 
fire and desolation. But the Americans are never daunted by a 
first reverse ; and their chances ever improve in proportion to the 
duration of a war. 

War undoubtedly may injure commerce, destroy some manu- 
factures, reduce a few villages to ashes, and desolate several parts 
of the coast ; but the vicissitudes of the first shock of a brutal 
and conquering foe once experienced, the nation would shake 
to its very centre ; and then would the warlike militia of the 
Western States join with those of New England and the South in 
achieving prodigies of valor in defence of their property and 
institutions. 

Besides, the American is aware of the truth taught him by the 
past : " That victory alone can secure peace to a free people when 
once engaged in war." He knows then that he must always be 
prepared to push the combat to that issue, for which he finds in 
himself, and in the circumstances which surround him, so many 
favorable chances. 

It is useless here to enter into fresh details relative to the mate- 
rial composition of the militia, because I have already treated of 
this subject in my preceding work on democracy. I may add, 
from recent official information, that this truly national force 
amounted, in 1847, to more than eighteen hundred thousand armed 
men! This is, in truth, a formidable resource for the defence of 
American institutions ; for it must not be forgotten that a firearm, 
in the hands of an American, is not what it is in those of a Eu- 
ropean, a noisy rather than an effective weapon. Every projectile 
discharged by the former is almost always fatal, for he is in the 
habit of holding back his fire until he is sure of his aim. His 
hunting life has early taught him the value of a load. 

Until the present time, the militia laws of the United States 
have compelled all legal citizens to present themselves under 
arms, for inspection, during only four days of the year; but no law 
has yet been enacted relative to their uniform organization, their 
instruction, and their discipline. 

Nevertheless, at these inspections, a million and a half of men 



AMERICAN POWER. 

never fail to present themselves, with arms and accoutrements in 
good order. Moreover, the volunteer companies, very numerous 
in each State, frequently assemble in the principal cities of the 
seaboard for exercise in shooting with the musket, rifle, and 
artillery. 

No law interdicts the assemblage of troops at any point of the 
Union where an election is held. But some States have judged 
it necessary to forbid by law the training of the militia on the day 
of an election. The object of this law is easily explained. " In 
the United States, a citizen capable of bearing arms is an elector." 
The American legislator did not wish to deprive the citizen of ex- 
ercising the first and most sacred of his rights, that of voting, by 
imposing on him other duties on that day. 

I believe I have sufficiently demonstrated that the American 
government has, if not from its origin, at least within the last 
quarter of a century, devoted the utmost attention to national de- 
fence, internal prosperity, and the impartial administration of 
justice. So long as these objects shall continue to interest the 
nation, nothing need ever be apprehended from the collisions of 
parties, or from their efforts to weaken the progress of public order, 
and the prosperity of the republic. The discussion of these various 
objects — thus virtually appealing to the good sense and opinion of 
the people, always opposed to the contracted views of individuals, 
and to the declamations or exaggerated pretensions of parties — 
becomes a new guarantee of a wise legislation. Besides, the 
measures necessary to secure these national objects are, as I have 
just shown, so inextricably bound together as in all instances to 
act simultaneously. 

We conclude, then, that the means adapted to repel an invasion 
powerfully co-operate in the maintenance of internal peace, by 
securing the happiness and prosperity of the nation; and that the 
laws which guarantee the rights and liberties of citizens encou- 
rage the increase of population and the development of commerce. 



ANGLO-AMERICAN TENDENCIES. 399 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SPIRIT OF CONQUEST AMONG THE AMERICANS. 

Origin of American society — Influence on this society of tlie Anglo-Saxon race — 
Characterized by a spirit of encroachment — Its extraordinary activity requires an 
extension of territory. 

In the policy of nations, questions of the future are not solved 
directly from fixed and pre-determined principles. Providence has 
its legitimate influence, and most frequently drives nations into 
paths, the limits of which are known only to itself — limits which the 
people themselves scarcely even suspect. 

Nevertheless, it is always possible to appreciate the tendencies 
of a people, from its origin, its history, its political institutions, its 
social organization, and, above all, from the conditions which its 
existence as a nation seems to require. 

The origin of the Americans is well known. It was fully de- 
veloped in the early part of this work. It is English. The body 
of American society is, therefore, of the Anglo-Saxon race, into 
which Iberian, Scandinavian, French, Celtic, and other races 
have been merged. These races undoubtedly brought with them 
the manners, the customs, and the religion peculiar to their dis- 
tinctive origin, but they soon submitted to the yoke of the majority. 
That is to say, the majority, which was English, has transmitted 
to them its feelings, its impressions, its ideas, its manner of com- 
prehending social order, and of contributing to the progress of 
society through the all-powerful lever of individual interest. 

Thus, in many parts of the United States, a number of Germans 
are found, sufficiently numerous and influential to have their own 
publicorgans, and to represent their interests in theirown language. 
Thirty-eight German papers are published in the United States. 
But these Germans are completely Americanized in their ideas of 
right, of property, and of liberty. They have retained, of their 
origin, only their idiom, which, even in the second generation, is 



400 AMERICAN POWER. 

effaced, and almost always disappears. Their habits are peace- 
ful, laborious, and parsimonious. 

In Louisiana, the last of the French colonies in the United 
States, the French, as far as origin and language are concerned, 
are still in the majority; nevertheless, the English language has 
become necessarily the official, and almost the common, medium 
of communication. The old colonists alone speak French. The 
character of the inhabitants is completely modified. They have 
become as grave as their fellow-citizens of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
They now seriously think of their individual interests, and are 
strongly attached to American institutions, to which they owe 
their happiness, their prosperity, and their power. 

It is therefore plainly to be seen that the spirit of the Anglo- 
Saxon race predominates. Now, the history of that race is per- 
fectly known throughout the whole world. 

In America, the spirit of encroachment and invasion which 
characterizes that race has subjected to its rule all the immense 
territory that other nations, with rights as well founded as those of 
the Anglo-Saxons, had previously colonized and settled. 

In the historical summary at the commencement of this work, 
the reader may have appreciated the means that enabled the English 
to overwhelm the whole continent, as well as the influence of the 
political and religious manners of its early inhabitants. He may 
have seen how every step in the progress of Anglo-American 
society has been marked by acts of encroachment which contri- 
buted to the growth of its power — and how its extension has be- 
come an indispensable condition of its existence ; essential, in 
fact, to the maintenance of American Democracy. 

Two things appear equally necessary for the tranquillity and 
success of American republics. They must be able to extend 
their boundaries ; and they must find an aliment for their prodi- 
gious productive capacity, as well as an outlet to their industry. 
Such are the necessities of the American nation, necessities de- 
rived from its English origin. But its geographical position and 
political institutions have greatly contributed to develop them. 
To its geographical position, in fact, it owes its immense com- 
mercial advantages. Prosperous and happy through agriculture, 
it is yet wealthy only by its exchanges. The extent, the variety, 
and the fertility of its soil place it in the first rank of agricultural 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 401 

nations; but the vastness of its seaboard, which gives it access to 
all parts of the globe, also places it in the first rank as a com- 
mercial and maritime nation. 

With respect both to commerce and agriculture, American 
genius has been directed to an exclusive object, the acquisition of 
wealth. If it be true that nations, like individuals, pursue their 
favorite object in different paths, and by different means, it is no 
less true that in both cases the same result is, in the end, attained. 

Ought we not then to conclude, in view of the origin and tend- 
encies of American society, and in view of the principles of 
commerce, that the United States is advancing towards domina- 
tion and encroachment? — and that, while seeking to accumulate 
wealth at home, it is gaining a marked ascendency abroad ? 



CHAPTER XIV 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Causes which contribute to render the climate of the United States temperate- 
Meteorological observations taken by order of the medical department of the army, 
and the results they establish — Three very distinct climates in the United States, 
con-esponding virith the territorial divisions of the coast, of the interior, and of 
the borders of the great Lakes — The number of clear and cloudy days corre- 
sponding with the same divisions — Quantity of water that falls — Mean tem- 
perature of various parts of the United States — Theory of storms and gales by 
Professor Espy. 

The climate of a country has at least as much influence on the 
character, the feelings, and the industrial tendencies of its inhab- 
itants, as well as on the increase and decrease of its population, as 
its physical configuration. It will not then be amiss to say some- 
thing here concerning the climate of the United States. 

The geographical position of the American Continent insures 
the United States a mean temperature favorable to the greatest 
possible development of the physical and intellectual faculties of 
man. 

Various causes tend to insure this favorable result. The first 
is the presence of the Gulf Stream, near the coast of the Atlantic, 
which incessantly bears along with it a quantity of warm and 
26 



402 AMERICAN POWER. 

humid air, and thus exerts a powerful influence on the temperature 
of the land. This current, extending along the coast from Florida 
to the Banks of Newfoundland, also becomes a powerful agent in 
neutralizing the effects of the masses of floating ice which drift 
from Baffin's Bay. Without this fortunate natural phenomenon, 
the coast of the United States would, for a great part of the year, 
be under the icy influence of the North. 

Another cause which equally contributes to render the climate 
of the United States temperate and salubrious is its admirable 
hydrographical features: An extensive coast, watered by the 
Atlantic — a sort of inland sea to the north-west, estimated to 
contain one-half of the fresh water in the known world — and 
large and small rivers, which, while refreshing and vivifying all 
parts of the vast territory of the United States, create none of 
those insalubrious marshes which the hand of man cannot render 
fit for cultivation. 

A third cause is the absence of mountains so high as to be 
covered with perpetual snow. 

To appreciate, as highly as possible, the value of these general 
features, it became necessary to compare a certain number of 
meteorological observations, taken at various points of the United 
States. The medical department of the army, with the object of 
accomplishing this result, ordered a series of observations to be 
made relative to the temperature of the weather, the direction of 
the winds, and the number of clear and cloudy days in a year, at 
all the military posts where United States troops were garrisoned. 

This meteorological labor, commenced under the auspices of 
Surgeon-General Lovel, has been continued by his successor 
Surgeon-General Thomas Lawson, whose tables of results have 
been recently printed. 

The various ports at which these observations have been made 
are included between latitudes 27° 57', and 46° 39' north, and 
betvy'een longitudes 67° 34' and 95° 43' west from Greenwich; 
consequently, embracing 18° 40' latitude and 25° 39' longitude. 
From these observations, I have been able to deduce the following 
results : — 

The United States possesses three very distinct climates, corre- 
sponding with three great territorial divisions, which are susceptible 
of subdivisions or zones, according to the physical causes that 
may exercise a given atmospherical influence. 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 403 

These divisions are: The northern, the middle, and the 
southern. That of the north extends from the extreme northern 
point of the frontier to the thirty-ninth degree of latitude. It is 
characterized by a comparatively low mean temperature. The 
middle division is comprised between latitudes 39° and 35°. It 
presents the phenomenon of very great irregularity in its tem- 
perature, suddenly changing from the extreme of heat to the 
extreme of cold. The third or southern division extends from 
35° to 25°, near Cape Sable, in Florida. In this division, the 
temperature is excessively warm. 

The greatest variety of climate is found in the first division. 
In fact, along the coast of New England, the vicinity of the sea 
has not only the effect of approximating the extreme points of 
temperature of the cold or the warm seasons, but also of materially 
increasing the mean temperature. Then, in advancing towards 
the interior, the changes in the temperature are more sudden and 
violent. Eventually, the extremes of heat or cold become excessive. 

It has also been proved that the presence of the great Lakes, at 
the north-west, exerts an influence not less marked than that of 
the sea on the variations of the climate. Thus, in the vicinity of 
the Lakes, we find very nearly the same climate which prevails 
near the coast ; but, beyond the point where the influence of the 
Lakes is experienced, we find the same intensity of heat and 
cold. 

It is true that the mass of water presented by this American, 
Mediterranean, with its natural outlet, the St. Lawrence, is a 
remarkable feature in the geography of this country. Thus, the 
basin of the St. Lawrence alone has a superficies of 255,896,860 
acres, 50,135,738 acres of which are covered by water for an 
extent of nearly two thousand miles, from the head of Lake 
Superior to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is not surprising, then, 
that so vast a mass of water should exert so direct an influence 
on the climate of the country in its vicinity. 

I shall now make some extracts from the above-mentioned 
tables, relative to the climate of the first division. 

At Augusta, in the State of Maine, and situated on the Penob- 
scot, near the Atlantic, in latitude 43° 21', the mean temperature 
during the years 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, and 1823, calculated 
from daily maxima and minima, was 45° of Fahrenheit, The 



404 AMERICAN POWER. 

thermometer sank to 22° below zero, and rose to 94°, thus show- 
ing a variation of 116° between the extremes of heat and cold. 

At Fort Crawford, in the same latitude, and consequently in 
the same division, but far from the influence of the Lakes (Fort 
Crawford is situated at the point where the Wisconsin empties 
into the Mississippi), the mean temperature was 48°. The ther- 
mometer fell to 23° below zero, and rose to 95°, exhibiting a 
variation of 118° between the two extremes. 

Thus, during these five years of observations, the mean tem- 
perature of the year, in the west, and in the interior, was nearly 
three degrees higher than at the east on the seaboard, and the 
variation in the thermometer greater by two degrees. 

From a comparison of a series of observations made on the 
climate on the borders of the Lakes, and in the interior, I have 
deduced the following results : — 

At Fort Brady, a military post situated near the falls of Saint 
Mary, between Lakes Superior and Michigan, in latitude 46° 39', 
the mean temperature during the year was 45° ; during the winter, 
18° ; during the spring, 40° ; during the summer, 63° ; and dur- 
ing the autumn, 49°. 

At Fort Snelling, situated at the falls of St. Anthony, on the 
Mississippi, in latitude 44° 53', consequently beyond the influence 
of the Lakes, and 1° 46' south of the preceding post, the mean 
temperature, during the year, was 40° ; — 5° lower than on the 
borders of the Lakes. The mean temperature during the winter 
was 17°, or one degree lower than on the Lakes. In the spring, 
the mean temperature was 47°, or seven degrees higher than in 
the interior. During the summer, the mean temperature was 74°, 
or 11° higher than on the borders of the Lakes. During the 
autumn, it was 51°, consequently exceeding by two degrees that 
of the Lakes. 

From a comparison of the observations made at New London, 
in Connecticut, on the borders of the sea, and those made at West. 
Point, the United States military academy on the Hudson River, 
in the State of New York, and from sixty to seventy miles in the 
interior, the following results relative to the mean temperature of 
the two places were obtained : — 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 405 

Fahr. 

la winter, at West Point .... 33° 

" at New London .... 34° 

In spring, at West Point .... 51° 

" at New London .... 09° 

In summer, at West Point .... 72° 

" at New London .... 70° 

In autumn, at West Point .... 01° 

" at New London .... 55° 

Results which accord with those previously given, and thus, 
in a measure, confirm the general law relative to the influence 
of the vicinity of water on the various climates of a country. 
Moreover, all the preceding observations distinctly prove the ex- 
istence of three diflTerent climates, or zones, the temperatures of 
which are governed by different laws. In these three zones, the 
seasons are distinguished not less by a given number of clear or 
cloudy days during the year, than by the degree of temperature 
and the direction of the winds which prevail there. However, 
the characteristic feature of the climate generally in the United 
States is that the number of clear greatly exceeds the number 
of cloudy days. It is a rare occurrence for one to be deprived of 
a sight of the sun for more than three days. Such a circumstance 
would be considered an atmospherical phenomenon. 

Thus, a series of observations, made in various localities, has 
shown that on the seaboard there is an annual proportion of two 
hundred and two clear days in three hundred and sixty-five— in 
other regions, two hundred and forty ; that on the shores of the 
Atlantic the proportion of cloudy or partially cloudy days was 
one hundred and eight, and in the interior seventy-seven ; that 
the number of rainy days was forty-five on the borders of the 
Atlantic, and in the interior thirty-one ; that snow fell nine days 
on the borders of the Atlantic, and sixteen days in the interior. 

Moreover, these proportions are not accidental. On the con- 
trary, they are in harmony with atmospheric laws and principles; 
for, as the quantity of rain that falls in a year depends on the 
degree of evaporation that takes place in the same period, evapo- 
ration, agreeably to the general law, must necessarily increase as 
we approach the equator, and rain must consequently be more 
abundant where the mean monthly temperature is highest. Now, 
as this increased quantity of rain, in the maritime and southern 
regions, generally falls at particular seasons, and only for a shor 



406 AMERICAN POWER. 

time compared with that of the colder regions, the yearly number 
of days without rain, especially in the interior, must be propor- 
tionally increased ; whilst, in the cold or temperate maritime 
regions, such as those of the United States over a great part of 
its coast, different results must necessarily be observed. Thus, 
although the rains are less abundant in these regions than in 
warmer ones, they are not the less frequent ; but the quantity of 
water that falls is less. This circumstance explains why, on the 
coast of New England, the number of rainy or cloudy days is 
double the number of rainy days in the dry and cold regions be- 
yond the Lakes. 

Humboldt has shown the proportion of rain that falls in each of 
the following latitudes : — 



At 0° 


96 inches of water. 


At 19° 


80 


At 45° 


29 


At 69° 


17 



Moreover, the course of the winds, and their continuance in 
certain directions, have, in particular localities, a great influence 
on the quantity of rain that falls during the year. Thus, it has 
been observed that the prevalence of certain winds occasioned a 
given proportion of rain. This circumstance is due to the fact 
that the course of the winds depends on general causes, such as 
the declination of the sun, the configuration of the coast, and the 
geographical position of the neighboring continents. 

In fine, if the climate of the Atlantic seaboard be compared 
with that of the interior of the country, beyond the influence of 
the great Lakes, the differences that characterize the seasons in 
either of those regions, and the influence they exert on the animal 
economy and on the vegetable kingdom, are quite striking ; for, 
as was justly remarked by the great Humboldt, "a summer, with 
a regular and uniform heat, develops the action of vegetation 
more slowly than the sudden transition from a very cold to a 
very warm season." 

A comparison has been instituted between a series of observa- 
tions taken at a military post situated in the zone of the Lakes, 
Fort Brady, near the Sault St. Marie, in latitude 46° 39', and at 
Fort Snelling, beyond the zone of the Lakes, at the confluence of 
the St. Pierre and the Mississippi, in latitude 44° 53', consequently 
1° 46' to the south of the first point of observation, from which we 
obtain the following results : — 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 407 

Fahr. 

Mean temperature on the Lakes during the year, 41° 

" " in the interior, " 45° 

" '* on the Lakes in winter, 19° 

" " in the interior, " 16' 

" " on the Lakes in the spring, 39° 

" " in the interior, " 45° 

" " on the Lakes in summer, 62° 

" " in the interior, " 72° 

" " on the Lakes in the autumn, 45° 

" " in the interior, " 48° 

Thus, although the post on the Lakes is in latitude 1° 46' 
farther north than that in the interior, and although the mean tem- 
perature is four degrees lower at the former than at the latter, still 
the mean temperature in winter was three degrees higher ; in the 
spring, six degrees lower ; in the summer, ten degrees lower ; and 
in the autumn three degrees lower than that of the corresponding 
seasons at the post in the interior. 

In the zone of the Lakes, the north-west winds prevail ; in the 
interior, the westerly winds. On the Lakes, the north-west winds 
blew for seventy-two days in the year ; in the interior, the westerly 
winds for one hundred and eight days. The other prevailing 
winds were from the south-west, which blew sixty days in the 
year on the Lakes, and seventy-two days at the post in the interior. 

On the Atlantic seaboard, in the vicinity of Boston, the southerly 
winds prevail ; next in frequency, the south-east ; then the north- 
west, and westerly. 

In the interior, and far from the influence of these waters, in 
latitude 35° 47', the south-east wind prevailed in the proportion of 
two hundred in three hundred days. 

During three years' observations, the number of clear days, 
during the year, on the Lakes, was one hundred and seventeen ; 
in the interior, two hundred and fifteen. The number of cloudy 
days on the Lakes was one hundred and twenty-seven ; in the 
interior, seventy-three. There were sixty-three rainy days on the 
Lakes ; in the interior, forty-six. Snow fell forty-five days on the 
Lakes, and only twenty-nine days in the interior. 

Thus, on the borders of the Lakes or within their zone, the 
number of cloudy exceeds the number of clear days ; whereas, in 
the interior, the reverse is the fact. It has also been seen that 
the proportion of cloudy days is much greater on the Lakes than 
on the Atlantic seaboard. 



408 AMERICAN POWER. 

The meteorological observations taken in Canada, Nova Scotia^ 
New Brunswick, and New^foundland, correspond with the atmo- 
spheric results I have just recorded. 

So sudden are the changes to which the climate of Canada is 
liable, that the mercury at Quebec has been observed to fall sixty- 
nine degrees in twelve hours. In this province, the cold weather 
commences in November, and continues until May, during which 
time the snow is more than three feet deep. The cold becomes 
so intense when the wind blows from the north-east that the mer- 
cury freezes in the thermometer, and no longer enables one to 
make observations. During the winter, the thermometer varies 
from 31° Fahrenheit to 30° below zero. 

In the latitude of Canada, the seasons do not follow each other 
so gradually as in more temperate climates. In July and August, 
the heat often rises to 94°, and is more enervating than in the 
West Indies. 

Observations made at Montreal present a mean temperature of 
39° during the year. February is the coldest month of the year. 
The mean temperature during this month has been 10° below 
zero ; the lowest point, 20° below zero. The heat is greatest in 
July, the mean temperature being 71° ; but during this month 
the mercury rose to 94°. During the year, the wind has been 
westerly one hundred and eighty-nine days ; easterly, forty-six 
days ; northerly, sixty-five days ; and southerly, fifty- five days. The 
amount of rain that fell in the year was fifteen inches and one- 
fifth of an inch. 

The climate of Nova Scotia differs from that of Canada, although 
both are in the same latitude. This difference results, in a great 
measure, from the insular position of Nova Scotia, and from the 
number of its Lakes, which, at certain seasons, overflow a great 
portion of the soil. The thermometer seldom rises in summer 
above 87°, and falls only from seven to ten below zero. 

The climate of Newfoundland is very similar to that of Nova 
Scotia. Nevertheless, as the coast is exposed to the influence of the 
floating icebergs that drift from Baffin's and Hudson's Bays, the 
summers are less warm, shorter, and, moreover, subject to sud- 
den changes of temperature. The same phenomenon is sometimes 
seen on the New England coast, as far as Cape Cod. 

In the United States, the climate becomes quite modified as we 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 409 

approach the more southern part of the coast. Here, the seasons 
glide into each other almost imperceptibly. 

Thus, in latitude 44° 53', at Fort Snelling, the difference be- 
tween the two mean temperatures of the coldest and the hottest 
months is 62° ; at New Orleans, in latitude 29° 57', only 52° ; at 
Tampa Bay, in the Gulf of Mexico, in latitude 27° 57', only 36°. 
But we should remark here that, in the territory of Florida, the 
climate is remarkable, for there one enjoys almost a perpetual 
spring. Vegetation is never checked. We can bathe in the run- 
ning streams of that country in winter as well as in summer. It 
is undoubtedly the most salubrious and delightful climate that I 
have known in this latitude. 

Observations taken at New Orleans, during three years, pre- 
sented the following results : — 





Fahr. 


Mean temperature for the yeai*, 


. 66° 


" " of winter, 


. 52° 


" " of spring, 


. 66° 


" " of summer, 


. 79° 


" " of autumn, 


. 46° 


Highest degree of temperature. 


. 88° 


Lowest " " ... 


. 28° 


Difference 


. 60° 



During this period, there were, on the average, two hundred 
and nineteen clear days, ninety-two cloudy, and thirty-nine rainy 
days in the year. Mean fall of rain fifty inches. 

In winter, the north and north-west winds prevail ; in summer, 
the south-west and southerly ; in spring, the south-west and south- 
east ; and in autumn, the northerly and northeast. 

In the Western States, within the middle division or zone, and 
situated in the Valley of the Mississippi, meteorological observa- 
tions have given us the following results : — 

Fahr. 

Mean temperature of winter, .... 32° 

" " of spring, .... 48° 

" *' of summer, .... 68° 

" " of autumn, .... 54° 

Quantity of water that fell annually, forty inches. Prevalence 
of south-west winds. 

The mean temperature of the year at various points of this zone, 
and in this valley, varies from 50° to 56° (Fahr.). 



410 AMERICAN POWER. 

In general, the climate of the Valley of the Mississippi is much 
more temperate and uniform than that beyond the great basin. 
This circumstance is explained by the constant prevalence of the 
southerly and south-west winds, which, ascending this basin for a 
great distance, carry along with them the genial influence of a 
warm and moist temperature. 

In the Valley of the Mississippi, vegetation commences sooner, 
and is checked later, than at any point in the same latitude be- 
yond this basin. This circumstance, combined with the fertility 
of its soil, which is of the richest alluvion, and the facilities for 
transportation afforded by its magnificent river, has occasioned a 
tide of emigration towards these regions that is truly surprising. 
This basin, of which, a century and a half ago, the red man was 
the sole proprietor, now contains eight million inhabitants. Lying 
between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains, it forms the 
great central region of the United States. Its surface is equal to 
nearly seven hundred and fifty million acres. Its declination 
from the sources of the two great rivers that water it to the Gulf 
of Mexico is scarcely perceptible. But its distinctive character- 
istic is, undoubtedly, the number and the extent of its navigable 
rivers, which, emptying into the Mississippi, as into a common 
reservoir, flow towards the Gulf of Mexico. To the east of the 
Mississippi, the land is heavily timbered, and presents compara- 
tively few prairies. But to the west, the great prairies, with 
scarcely any woodland, are very numerous. These prairies are 
from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and sixty miles in 
extent. 

COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF BAROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE AT VARIOUS 
POINTS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, DURING A PERIOD OF FOUR TEARS. 

At Hudson (Ohio), latitude 41° 14' 40" N., mean height corrected 30°.034 

At Montreal (Canada), 29°.989 

At New York (N. Y.) 29°.977 

At Quebec (Canada), 29°.919 

At Hudson, in Ohio, the mean pressure of the atmosphere was 
greater in the autumn than in the spring. 

At Montreal, it was also greater in the autumn, but not so great 
in summer. 

In the State of Ohio, spring is the driest season, and April the 
driest month. Winter is the most humid season ; December 



CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 411 

the wettest month. During three years' observations, including 
1838, which was remarkable for its extreme dryness, the mean 
annual fall of rain, in that region, was 34°. 635 inches. In a 
series of ordinary years, the mean fall of rain per annum may be 
estimated at thirty-six inches, which corresponds with that of the 
State of New York. 

The data we possess relative to the climate of North America 
are comparatively meagre, certainly insufficient to answer the 
purposes of science and general economy. It is evident that, 
before the results of atmospherical phenomena can be generalized, 
we require a series of observations made simultaneously at vari- 
ous points of this vast continent, with equally perfect instruments, 
and agreeably to a uniform and regular method. Science, and 
even the animal economy, would undoubtedly realize a great ad- 
vantage, were such an undertaking well conducted by means of 
the thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, and, since the admirable 
explanation given by Professor Espy, a learned American, of 
tornadoes, water-spouts, hurricanes, and storms, especially the 
anemometer. Nevertheless, the observations due to the zeal and 
scientific knowledge of the medical staff of the army are valuable 
from the fact that they throw new light on the various climates of 
the United States, and show the beneficial effect of these climates 
on the physical, industrial, and intellectual development of man. 

On the whole, I have a thorough conviction that the learned 
men of America will strive to respond to the honorable appeal of 
Messrs. Arago, Pouillet, and Robinet in their interesting report 
on the great meteorological labors of Professor Espy, and that 
they will greatly contribute to extend the sphere of science, and 
thus cement more closely the social compact, which ought to bind 
together all parts of the civilized world. 

The American government has already shown that it appreciates 
the position it occupies relative to the tribute every civilized nation 
owes to science. It has ordered a geographical and hydrograph- 
ical survey, which, with respect to the nautical details of its own 
continent, must render it independent of the nations of Europe. 
This important undertaking, confided to the care of Professor 
Hassler,* one of the most distinguished astronomers of the age, is 

* A depot of charts, as the necessary complement of so great a hydro- 



412 AMERICAN POWER. 

already far advanced ; and the public may very soon expect to 
reap its advantages, at least on the most interesting portion of the 
American coast. 

Let us hope that so enlightened a government — a government 
which emanates so directly from the people, and which is so 
deeply interested in basing its policy on immutable truths — will 
respond, in a still greater degree, to our expectations. The 
American nation should require its legislators to erect a national 
observatory. Such an establishment is now an essential comple- 
ment of the political independence the nation has already so 
gloriously conquered, and which it should preserve by always 
maintaining a high position with respect to its knowledge of celes- 
tial phenomena, the only accurate basis for human calculations. 

The wishes we expressed in 1845 relative to this matter are 
realized in 1848. 

The general government has erected a national observatory at 
Washington, the seat of government, and has placed it under the 
control of the Secretary of the Navy.* 

Since that time, three others have been erected, at the expense 
of particular States : one in Jersey City, opposite New York ; and 
another at Philadelphia. The third belongs to the central insti- 
tution of the Jesuits at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. 

These observatories are in regular communication with one 
another by means of the Electric Telegraph; and the philosopher 
thus finds, in the application of electricity, another means of 
verification in his observations of the celestial phenomena sub- 
mitted to his investigation. 

graphical undertaking, is now required. It is quite as indispensable as 
the maps and plans of the War Department for military operations. 

[This desideratum is now supplied. At the observatory, in Washington 
city, charts are now deposited and distributed to the different vessels of the 
United States.— Tr.] 

* The observatory at Washington possesses all the instruments and 
conveniences required for every variety of observation. Its superintend- 
ent, Lt. M. F. Maury, of the United States Navy, is already well known 
to the scientific world as a distinguished astronomer. He is assisted by 
officers of the navy, and by professors selected for that purpose. — Tr. 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 413 



CHAPTER XV. 

POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Increase of population in the United States : 1st. Among the whites ; 2d, among the 
free blacks ; 3d, among the slaves ; 4th, among the blacks, slave and free ; 5th, 
total population of all these classes — Proportions of the sexes — Slavery — Growth 
of the principal cities of the Union^Conclusions. 

When a nation has the wisdom to institute a form of govern- 
ment on the principle of individual liberty and security, it thereby 
secures the increase, and develops the industry, of its people. It 
thus guarantees national prosperity, with which the augmentation 
of the population is so directly connected. Thence, population 
becomes, according to its character, the great source of its wealth 
and social power. 

The various societies from which the American nation ultimately 
sprang jwere impressed with this great truth ; and it was fortunate 
for them that their peculiar situation enabled them to put it in 
practice. Surrounding their cradles, as it were, with institutions 
in which individual liberty and freedom of conscience were domi- 
nant elements, they rapidly grew in power, and finally gave birth 
to the society now distinguished by the glorious name of the 
American Union. We have seen this society, thus constituted 
solely on the principles of liberty and equality, arrive at a degree 
of power unprecedented either in ancient or modern history. In 
less than fifty years, its population has increased fourfold. 

Such is the result of the extraordinary combination of circum- 
stances in which the American nation found itself placed, in a 
manner, so to speak, providentially. Called to people a quarter of 
the globe peculiarly favored for the reproduction of man, the Ame- 
ricans have enjoyed, moreover, a privilege which is inestimable. 
They have been born, have grown up, and have become great, far 
from the hatred and jealousies which constantly agitate the soci- 
eties of Europe. The latter indeed, have often, too often, con- 



414 AMERICAN POWER. 

tributed to develop the society of the New World by lavishing on 
it their choicest blood — the most active and intelligent citizens 
of the Old World. 

But the principal cause of the astonishing progress of the 
American population is its form of government — its free institu- 
tions — its respect for individual liberty. Under these happy aus- 
pices, the people of America have been able to expand in every 
direction without obstacles, according to their taste, their neces- 
sities, their inclination, their instinct, or their caprice. Nothing 
has ever thwarted them. The American citizen has always been 
able to find the conditions most consonant with his disposition, or 
most favorable to his personal interest. Now, no system of laws, 
however wise or prudent they may be, can so completely secure 
these results as liberty and individual security. 

In fact, any territory in the United States which presents con- 
ditions favorable to the material interests of man will attract, in a 
very short time, a large population — as large, in fact, as it can 
support. In fact, we often see populations increase under circum- 
stances almost sufficient to render augmentation impossible. 

Thus, the pestilential climate of New Orleans, which presses 
so heavily on this important commercial city of the South for the 
space of three or four months* in the year, ought, one would think, 
to prevent the increase of its population. But the reverse has 
been the fact ever since Louisiana became a portion of the Ame- 
rican Union. New Orleans, in 1830, contained a population of 
50,103 inhabitants ; according to the census taken in 1840, 
102,121 — an increase, therefore, of one hundred per cent, in ten 
years ! How do we account for such a result at a point of the 
American territory where the life of man is most exposed ? On 
the principle that the providential instincts of man will always 
carry him with ardor where there are chances of success, and 
where there is full liberty of action under the protection of politi- 
cal institutions favorable to his material welfare. 

Let us now examine the increase in the population of the 

* During the season in which the Mississippi overflows Lake Pontchar- 
train, the temperature of lower Louisiana is generally salubrious ; but from 
the end of June to the end of November, the river having retired within 
its ordinary bounds, disease is frequent. The mortality at New Orleans 
is, in general, in the proportion of twenty in one hundred. 



, INCREASE OF POPULATION. 415 

United States between the years 1790 and 1840, under the favor- 
able auspices we have mentioned. 

In the first place, let us remind the reader, of what he already 
knows, that the people of the United States are divided into two 
classes— the white and the black ; the latter composed of freemen 
and slaves. I shall therefore present the relative progress of these 
three classes, which may be the better appreciated by means of 
tables taken from the last official census of 1840: 

I. INCREASE OF THE WHITE POPULATION. 
Years. Population. Increase. 

1790 3,172,619 

1800 4,307,196 1,134,577 or 35.8 per cent. 

1810 5,862,004 1,554,808 or 36.1 

1820 7,806,695 1,944,691 or 33.2 

1830 10,541,294 2,734,579 or 35 

1840 14,189,218 3,647,924 or 34.6 

II. INCREASE OF THE FREE BLACK POPULATION. 

1790 59,512 

1800 104,880 45,378 or 76.2 per cent. 

1810 186,446 81,766 or 76.8 

1820 233,400 46,954 or 25.1 

1830 319,576 56,176 or 24 

1840 386,234 66,658 or 20.8 

III. INCREASE OF THE SLAVE POPULATION. 

1790 697,696 

1800 896,849 199,153 or 28.7 per cent. 

1810 1,191,364 294,515 or 32.8 

1820 1,538,036 336,672 or 28.2 

1830 2,009,040 471,004 or 30.6 

1840 2,487,151 478,111 or 23.8 

IV. INCREASE OF THE ENTIRE BLACK POPULATION, FREE AND ENSLAVED. 

1790 757,208 

1800 1,001,729 246,521 or 32.2 per cent. 

1810 1,377,810 376,081 or 37 

1820 1,771,436 393,626 or 28.5 

1830 2,328,616 557,180 or 31.4 

1840 2,873,385 544,769 or 23.4 



416 AMERICAN POWER. 



V. INCREASE OF THE WHOLE POPULATION. 



Years. 


Population. 


Increase. 


1790 


3,929,827 




1800 


5,308,925 


1,379,098 or 35 per cent. 


1810 


7,239,814 


1,929,889 or 36.3 


1820 


9,578,131 


2,338,317 or 32.3 


1830 


12,869,910 


3,291,779 or 34.3 


1840 


17,062,003 


4,192,093 or 32.5 



These tables present the following interesting results : In the 
first, it will be seen that the increase of the white population has 
been very uniform since 1790, since it never exceeded 36.1 per 
cent., and never fell below 33.2 per cent. The second table shows 
that the proportional increase of the free black population, during 
the first two decennial periods, was double that of the white popu- 
lation, while in the last period the rate of increase suddenly fell 
ten per cent. The third table shows that the proportional 
increase of the slave population varied very little in the first four 
decennial periods, but fell considerably in the last period. The 
fourth table shows that the whole black population, free and en- 
slaved, varied exceedingly during the first four decennial periods; 
and that in the last the proportion was reduced ten per cent, 
relatively to the preceding periods. 

It is true that, during this period, the question of emancipation 
was agitated with unusual vigor. This circumstance must have 
had some influence on this reduction, and serves to explain its 
cause. Other circumstances, however, must have greatly con- 
tributed to produce this result. The reduction is principally due 
to the fact that the free blacks prefer removal to Canada even to a 
residence in those States where slavery no longer exists. The 
black race is here inferior to the white in the eyes of man, though 
not before the law, which, in some States, accords to it electoral 
rights, and, as it were, places it on a level with the white race. 

Finally, a certain number of slaves must also have been 
removed to Texas. 

The fifth table shows that, during the five decennial periods 
selected as the basis of comparison, that is to say, from 1790 to 
1840, the mean proportional increase of the entire population of 
the United States has been thirty-five per cent, for each decennial 
period. This prodigious increase can only be explained by a 
combination of favorable circumstances, the principal of which 



PROPORTION OF THE WHITE TO THE COLORED RACE. 417 

are, a government founded on the true principles of liberty and 
individual security; and an extensive territory, where the means 
of existence are abundant and of easy access, probably the most 
efficient of all causes in increasing the population of a country. 

Nevertheless, as I have alread-y stated, Europe annually con- 
tributes in considertible proportion to this increase of numerical 
power ; and it is estimated that one hundred thousand emigrants 
annually seek repose, as well as employment for their productive 
faculties, in the United States. 

After deducting the population which Europe annually sends 
to America, the United Slates still presents a proportional increase 
to which nothing in Europe can be compared ; double that of 
Russia, where population increases more rapidly than any country 
in Europe; more than thrice that of France ; and more than five 
times that of all Europe combined. 

The following is a comparative estimate of the proportion of 
whiles and blacks, and that of whites and slaves, from 1800 to 
1840 inclusive: — 

In 1800 there were 4.29 whitesi to one black, and 4.82 whites to 1 slave. 
. In 1810 « 4.25 " 4.92 

In 1820 " 4.20 " 5.07 

In 1830 " 4.52 " 5.20 

In 1838 " 4.93 '• 5.70 

Thus, the proportion of whites to slaves has constantly increased 
since 1800; that of the white to the black race only since 1820. 



TOTAI 


. rOPOLATION 


OF THE UNITED 


STATES 




Population, 


INfales. 


Females. 




Total. 


Whites, 


7,249,270 


0,939,942 




14,189,218 


Free blacks. 


180,457 


199,777 




380,234 


Slaves, 


1,240,443 


1,240,708 




2,487,151 




8,082,170 


8,380,427 


17,002,003 



This table shows that the males and females are equally dis- 
tributed throughout the various parts of the Union. In New- 
England, for example, the number of females exceeds that of 
males. The total popidation of the States of Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont, 
exhibits the following proportion : — 
27 



418 AMERICAN POWER. 

Males 1,110,046 

Females 1,124,813 



Difference in favor of females .... 14,767 

Consequently, 100 males for every 101.33 females. 

In the Middle States, namely ,'New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Delaware, the males are more- numerous than the 
females. Proportion of each in the total population as follows: — 

Males 2,320,117 

Females 2,278,228 



Difference in favor of males .... 47,889 

Consequently, 100 males for every 97.90 females. 

In the Southern States, namely, Maryland, District of Colum- 
bia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana, and -Florida, the number of males is greater 
than that of females. The total population of these States is as 
follows : — 

Males 2,615,654 

Females ' . 2,549,591 

Difference in favor of males .... 66,063 

Consequently, 100 males for every 97.51 females. 

In the Western States, namely, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and 
Iowa, the males are much more numerous than the females. The 
total population of this portion of the Union is as follows: — 

Males ^ . . . 2,630,359 

Females 2,427,795 



Difference in favor of males .... 202,564 

Consequently, 100 males for every 92.29 females. 

The States in which the number of females exceeds that of 
males are : New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and the District of 
Columbia. In the District of Columbia, the proportion of females 
to males bears the relation of 114.98 to 100. South Carolina and 
Massachusetts present the next greatest difference. The former 
has 8,322, and the latter 8,212, more females than males. 

Among the States in which the male exceeds the female popu- 
lation, Ohio ranks the first : it has 48,737 more males than females. 



PROPORTION OF MALES TO FEMALES. 419 

Next is Illinois, where the excess of males is 38,375. Then comes 
New York, where the excess is 33,411, and afterwards Indiana, 
Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, &c. 

If a comparison be made relative to the entire population of 
the United States, it will be found that the mean of the difference 
between the two sexes sensibly diminishes. 

The recapitulation I have presented shows the white population 
to be divided as follows : — 

Males 7,249,276 

Females 0,939,942 

Difference in favor of males .... 309,334 

That is to say, 100 males for every 95.73 females. 

And the black population thus : — 

Males I ^-^^ • • • 1«6,457 | ^ 432 qoo 

1 slaves . . . 1,246,443 | ^'^'^^"'"^ 

^^^--1^« { T ' ' ' .Ifn'^Zl 1.440,485 

( slaves . . . 1,240,708 j 



Difference in favor of females . ... 7,585 

Consequently, 100.53 females to 100 males. 

Now, if we take the free colored population separately, the dif- 
ference between the sexes will exhibit a proportion of 107.13 
females to 100 males. With the slave population, the reverse is 
the case, the difference being in the proportion of 100 males to 
99.55 females. 

Between Virginia and South Carolina, both slave States, a re- 
markable difference is observed. In South Carolina, the propor- 
tion of females to males is as 106.10 to 100; while in Virginia 
the proportion of males to females is as 100 to 96.36. 

The entire population of the Union exhibits the following re- 
sults: — - 

Males. Females. 

Proportion of males to females . . . 100 to 96.53 

" among the whites . . . 100 to 95.73 

" " the free blacks and slaves 100 to 102.53 

the free blacks . . 100 to 107.13 

the slaves ... 100 to 99.53 

Thus, among the free blacks, the number of females is much 
greater than that of males, and that in a proportion exceptional to 
any other similar combination ; whether by a given State, or by 



420 AMERICAN POWER. 

an agglomeration of States composing a great geographical division 
of the country. 

The proportional increase of population has considerably varied 
in each State, according to its geographical position. In some, it 
has been very small ; in others, very great. Michigan, admitted 
into the Union since the last census, has increased at the rate of 
575 per cent. — a remarkable circumstance, which can only be ex- 
plained by its admirable geographical position. Next to Michigan 
comes the State of Illinois, its proportional increase being 204 per 
cent.; an increase produced by the same causes, for these two 
States occupy the rich and fertile territory included between 
Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, and the shores of the Missis- 
sippi, and are situated on the shortest line of communication 
between the Northern States and the States which border on the 
Gulf of Mexico. Arkansas exhibits the next highest propor- 
tional increase. Its rich and fertile territory presents varied 
mineral resources. Its climate is very temperate. The State of 
Missouri, equally rich in agricultural and mineral productions, 
comes next in order. Then follows Mississippi, whose increase 
has been 154 per cent. The last State whose population has 
augmented at the rate of 100 per cent, is Indiana, also favored by 
the navigable communications secured by the Lakes, the Ohio, 
and the Mississippi. Thus, in these six States has the augmenta- 
tion of population amounted to and exceeded 100 per cent.; 
and all are situated in the basin of the Mississippi, grouped in the 
most direct line of communication between the Lakes and the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Three States, Ohio, Alabama, and Louisiana, have increased 
more than 60 per cent.; the last at the rate of 77.5 per cent., 
confirming the remark I made at the commencement of this 
chapter, that a situation which presents material advantages will 
always attract a large population, if under the protection of free 
institutions. 

Thus, an immense tide of population has set in towards the 
west, within the last fifty years, bearing with it more than five 
million white men to the great basin of the Mississippi — a tide 
which nothing can arrest, and which one day will people this vast 
region with more than one hundred million inhabitants. 

But it also remains to be proved that this increase of population 
in the Valley of the Mississippi has taken place to the detriment 



VALLEY pF THE MISSISSIPPL 421 

of the Atlantic States, the oldest of the confederation. In these 
States, the increase of population has scarcely exceeded five per 
cent. 

Among these, South Carolina has increased least; merely 0.5 
per cent.; Delaware, 1.6 per cent.; North Carolina, 2.5 per 
cent. ; Vermont, 4 per cent. ; Connecticut, 4.6 per cent. ; New 
Hampshire, 5.7 per cent. ; Virginia, 6.7 per cent., and Maryland, 
9 per cent. But the States in immediate contact with the Valley 
of the Mississippi have maintained their proportion. Thus, Penn- 
sylvania has increased 27.9 per cent., and New York 27.3 per 
cent. 

Such a result was inherent in the nature of things, in conformity 
with the ideas and principles of the Americans. In my opinion, 
one of the greatest advantages of their social state, an advantage 
which must powerfully contribute to the maintenance of their 
democratic institutions, is the circumstance that everything among 
them is constantly in motion. This condition is eminently favor- 
able to the stirring nature of democracy. 

But this result also demonstrates a fact of' great importance in 
its relation to the future administration of the Union, namely, 
that its numerical and industrial strength is constantly tending 
towards the north-west. Each day augments the population of 
the Valley of the Mississippi, w^hich, by its fertility, its extent, its 
available outlets, and its climate, is destined, ere long, to contain 
a population double that of the Atlantic seaboard. 

Thus, in accordance with the natural order and progress of 
things, the direction of federal affairs will, in a few years, pass 
from the hands of the statesmen of the Atlantic States, who created 
the Union, into those of the statesmen of the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi. This important and novel feature in the politics of the 
Union will be favorable to its interests, and to the stability of its 
institutions; for, in my opinion, the people of the west are, in a 
moral and material point of view, placed in a much better condi- 
tion than their fellow-citizens of the North and South, to judge 
impartially concerning the great and conflicting interests of the 
republic ; and, above all, they are too directly interested in the 
preservation of the Union, which alone can maintain and augment 
their prosperity, not to carry out, practically, the great democratic 
principles to which the Union owes its existence. 

Moreover, the preponderance of these principles in the admin- 



422 AMERICAN POWER. 

istrative policy of the people of the Western States has the powerful 
guarantee of their origin. These States are peopled, for the most 
part, by emigrants from New England, where democracy has 
been practiced in its primitive form for a longer time than in any 
other portion of the United States. Thence the first idea of the 
American Union emanated. 

The increase in the population of the free blacks has been 
greatest in the Western States, namely, Arkansas, Missouri, Michi- 
gan, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. While it has risen 
as high as 230 per cent., it has not fallen below 81 per cent. 
But Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi are slave States. In the 
other States, slavery has never existed. 

In the State of Louisiana, the proportional increase of the free 
blacks has been 52.6 per cent. In the Atlantic States, it has 
varied from 4.6 to 26.2 per cent. ; but a decrease has taken place 
in New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, and Florida. 

Free negroes are found in all the political divisions of the Union, 
but are most numerous in Maryland, one of the Middle States; 
then successively in New Yorlc, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Louis- 
iana, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Ohio, in each of which 
their number averages nearly 17,342. In each of the remaining 
States, the number of free blacks does not exceed from 1000 
to 8000. 

This class of inhabitants moves but little from place to place, 
as emigration cannot ameliorate its condition. It remains in an 
inferior moral position, towards the white race — a position which 
nothing can alter. Therefore, it does not leave the North for the 
South. Even in the South, the liberated blacks frequently prefer 
remaining where they are as slaves to seeking a home elsewhere, 
for in that section they encounter fewer prejudices against them 
than in any other sections of the Union. The whites are less 
haughty towards them, because the respective situations of the 
two races is clearly defined by the condition of slavery. 

The slave population has increased more rapidly in the South- 
ern States and tovv'ards the borders of the Gulf of Mexico than 
in any other parts of the Union. In Arkansas, it has increased at 
the enormous rate of 335 per cent. ; in Mississippi, at the rate of 
197 per cent.; in Missouri, 192 per cent.; and in Alabama, 124 
per cent. In Florida and Louisiana, it has increased at the rate 
of 58 to 68 per cent. ; in North Carolina, 40 per cent. ; in Georgia^ 



SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 423 

38 per cent. But in New York, Delaware, and particularly in 
Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, the slave popu- 
lation has greatly decreased. 

Slavery, within the last ten years, has been transplanted from 
the shores of the Atlantic to the borders of the Gulf of Mexico ; 
from the shores of the Delaware and Potomac to those of the Tom- 
bigbee and the Mississippi. This change is based upon purely 
economical considerations, such as the value of labor, and the 
distinctive nature of the productions of the South. Thus, tobacco, 
cotton, and the sugar-cane constitute the relative wealth of this 
section of the Union. The climate of these States, and their fer- 
tility of soil, render them alone adapted for such culture. Hence, 
the preservation of this industry, against which the Western or 
Northern States cannot compete, is of the highest importance. In 
this way, the black population increases at the South, not only in 
a ratio corresponding to the natural advancement of the popula- 
tion in that section, but by virtue of the forced emigration of 
negroes from States somewhat farther north. 

The African race forms a pretty large part of the population of 
each political division of the American Union, and while it evi- 
dently tends to diminish somewhat at the North, it becomes more 
dense at the South. In three of the Southern States, namely, 
South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the black population 
is much more numerous than the white. 

The States which have abolished slavery are Maine, New 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. In the 
last three States, slavery has never existed. 

The slave States are New Jersey,* Delaware, Maryland, Virgi- 
nia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, where slavery 
is about to be abolished, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and the 
District of Columbia. 

In the free States, in 1830, there were 6,409,387 whites, and 
118,140 negroes. In the slave States, or other portions of the 

* Slavery in New Jersey has long since been abolished, as well as in 
Illinois. In this instance, the author has based his opinions on the fact 
that a few slaves still exist in New Jersey. These are now old, and are 
gradually dying off. — Tr. 



424 AMERICAN POWER. 

United States where slavery still exists, 4,115,875 whites, and 
2,210,486 negroes. 

In 1840, in the free States, there were 8,659,550 whites, and 
145,863 negroes ; in the slave States, 5,529,558 whites, and 
2,727,595 negroes. 

The white race has therefore increased at the rate of 35.1 per 
cent, in the free States, and 34.3 per cent, in the States where 
slavery still exists. 

The entire black population, free and enslaved, has increased 
at the rate of 23 per cent. 

Therefore, it is clearly established that the increase of the 
black race in these respective divisions is much less than that of 
the white race. Thus, although the blacks incessantly increase 
in the South, because of the advantageous application of their 
labor, the white race still presents its numerical superiority, as 
well by reason of natural augmentation as on account of emigra- 
tion. Therefore, I conclude that, in the Southern States, the two 
races may remain in the same relative condition, without seeking 
a conflict the one with the other, unless germs of discord are 
intentionally thrown among them. 

I repeat my conviction that, if inconsiderate agitators do not 
meddle with the question of slavery, in those portions of the United 
States where it still exists; if slavery be left to its natural course ; 
if reliance be placed on the interest, on the enlightened reason of 
man quietly to bring about the solution of this question, so often 
agitated without any real advantage ; if, I say, the hirelings of 
English jMlanthropy do not excite a spirit of rebellion among this 
class of laborers, I cannot apprehend, with authors who have 
written on this subject, any struggle between the white and black 
population of the southern portion of the Union. 

If, however, in any event which I cannot foresee, this conflict 
should take place, it would be fatal to the black race ; for it is 
not to be denied that the Anglo-American race extends from the 
St. Lawrence to the shores of the Mississippi, and is ra]iidly ad- 
vancing from the borders of the Atlantic to the slopes of the 
Rocky Mountains. A common interest and common sentiments 
animate this mass of men. Powerful through th^ Union, they 
wish to see its maintenance based on the respect due to the Con- 
stitution which created it. Now, this constitution formally de- 
clares that the federal government shall protect each State of the 



SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. 425 

Union against all internal violence. In an emergency, then, the 
people of the South could rely on the support of their brethren of 
the North — a support which the latter would be impelled to render 
through a sense of self-interest, which among the Americans is all- 
powerful and sacred. At the time the federal compact which 
emancipated the English colonies of America, and raised the 
United States to the rank of an independent nation, was drawn 
up, each State made certain reservations Snd stipulations relative 
to its rights of property of every description. The slave States 
were admitted into the Union, with their mixed population of 
white and black, free and enslaved. A given proportion of slaves, 
three-fifths of the entire number in the United States, were repre- 
sented by votes, with the object of equalizing the distribution of 
representatives in the federal Congress among the several States. 

The slave States were, therefore, placed on an equal footing 
with the other States in the federal compact only by reason of the 
admission of a part of the black population as a basis of repre- 
sentation in the National Congress. At a later period, the United 
States, not finding, in the federal compact, sufficient strength for 
a national government, adopted a new constitution, which modi- 
fied in no respect the distinctive social existence of each State, 
with or without slaves. Nevertheless, each State voluntarily sur- 
rendered a part of its rights as a separate sovereignty, to give 
additional strength to the central government. This act consti- 
tuted, in fitfct, the American Union. To assail this condition of 
things at the present time would be to violate directly the funda- 
mental compact of the Union, and to invalidate the Constitution. 
The Americans are too wise to foresee the possibility or even the 
contingency of such a result. They will, therefore, abstain from 
interfering, through their national legislature, with a state of things 
that each State alone has the right to modify in its individual 
capacity. 

Without doubt, should a fatal struggle take place between the 
whites and blacks, whatever its exciting cause, the latter would have 
on their side all the energy of despair. At the commencement of the 
struggle, they w^ould possess, at certain points, even the advantage 
of nitmbers. But the whites w'ould soon acquire the ascendency 
by means of their immense superiority of strength, intelligence, 
and resources. Moreover, the relative position of the two races 
is in no respect analogous to their position in the West Indies, 



426 AMERICAN POWER. 

where the whites are surrounded by a far superior number of 
blacks. In short, the latter would not find in America positions 
inaccessible to the whites, positions in which the black race alone 
is able to sustain itself. Florida, a short time since, was the only 
point on the American continent where negroes, Indians, and 
agitators could hope to act with advantage against its unfortunate 
population. Now that the Indian war is terminated, and the 
wreck of that unfortunate race is about to cross the Mississippi, 
and to bid farewell to the land of its fathers, civilization will at 
once assume its habitual supremacy over savage life, and the 
territory will soon receive all the population it is able to support. 
Then, on the Gulf of Mexico, as on all other points of the Ameri- 
can territory, the white race will resume its numerical ascend- 
ency, in harmony with its destiny. 

The American Union already possesses five large capitals, the 
smallest of which has a population of one hundred thousand, and 
the largest, over three hundred thousand inhabitants. Of these 
cities, four are situated on the Atlantic seaboard, and one on the 
borders of the Gulf of Mexico. The last has doubled its popula- 
tion in the last ten years, and from its admirable position in the 
Valley of the Mississippi, of which it is the necessary mart, as 
well as the only outlet and factory, nothing can prevent its aug- 
mentation in a corresponding ratio, until it becomes the most 
populous city in the United States. Of all the cities in the Union 
whose population exceeds one hundred thousand souls. New York, 
after New Orleans, has increased most rapidly. But Brooklyn, on 
Long Island, opposite New York, and, like this city, possessing 
the great advantage of a situation on the waters of New York 
Bay, exhibits a still greater proportional increase. Its population 
has increased tenfold in the last ten, and twentyfold in the last 
twenty years. 

Cincinnati, on the Ohio, the great port of the west, has exhi- 
bited the same proportional increase as New Orleans. Its popu- 
lation has doubled in the last ten years. Louisville, another city 
of the west, situated immediately above the falls of the Ohio, has 
increased in the same ratio. Pittsburgh, which, from its favorable 
position at the head of navigation of the Ohio, is destined to 
rival Cincinnati in prosperity and in the ratio of its development, 
has, like the latter city, advanced with rapid strides. Its popu- 



PRINCIPAL CAPITALS IN THE UNION. 427 

lation would, perhaps, exceed that of Cincinnati, were the inhabit- 
ants of its suburbs duly estimated. 

The growth of certain cities in the fertile territory of the west, 
or of those which, through their commercial relations, are depend- 
ent on the west, has, in the last decennial period, been truly 
remarkable. The population of St. Louis, for example, the capi- 
tal of Missouri, situated at the confluence of the Missouri and the 
Mississippi, has trebled. Rochester, and Buffalo, in the western 
part of New York, and connected with the Western States by 
means of the Lakes and the New York Canal, contain each, at 
present, twenty thousand inhabitants. In 1830, the population 
of each did not exceed from eight to ten thousand. Lastly, the 
population of the manufacturing city of Lowell, the Manchester 
of New England, in the State of Massachusetts, has increased 
more than threefold in the last ten years! 

Of all these cities, creations of the last half century, the most 
remarkable, doubtless, is Cincinnati, the metropolis and the great 
market of the west. It is the work of the clear-sighted, alert, and 
indefatigable industry of the people of New England, the Yan- 
kees. It is a proof that the power of man, in the persevering 
and steady pursuit of the object of his desires, is sufficient to bal- 
ance, and even to overcome that of nature. Pittsburgh, in fact, 
possessed immense natural resources for large manufactories, 
and Louisville an advantageous position at the falls of the Ohio 
as a mart for produce ; nevertheless, Cincinnati has outstripped 
its two rivals in population, wealth, and industry. 

The inhabitants of Cincinnati have secured this prosperity to * 
themselves by one of those instincts peculiar to the eminently 
practical and calculating genius of the North Americans; they 
have concentrated their efforts on one object, the development of 
their city by means of industry. By making roads and canals, 
and constructing railways at proper locations, they have rendered 
Cincinnati the pivot of a system of communication by which it is 
placed in relation with the great centres of the Atlantic seaboard. 

It is scarcely fifty years since the lot on which Cincinnati is y 
built was sold for forty-eight dollars. In 1810, the population did ^ 
not exceed two thousand ; in 1830, it amounted to twenty-five thou- 
sand ; in 1835, to thirty-five thousand ; and it is now nearly fifty 
thousand. In 1826, the capital it invested in manufactures was 
two million dollars, and in 1840, six million dollars. The num- 



428 AMERICAN POWER. 

ber of its stage-coaches is fifty ; and it has sixty weekly mails. 
Two thousand steamboats annually take their departure from the 
city. In fine, the people of Cincinnati export produce to an 
amount exceeding in value six million dollars. This produce is 
distributed among the growing populations of the Western States, 
as well as of the Southern States, engaged principally in the pro- 
duction of cotton. 

The great centres of commerce and population, on the Atlantic 
seaboard, have increased far less rapidly than the cities of the 
west. Nevertheless, they have exhibited remarkable progress. 
New York, which is, in fact, the real capital of the Union, and 
the greatest commercial seaport in the world, next to London, has 
almost uniformly advanced, each decennial period, at the rate 
of rather more than 57 per cent. This increase exceeds the 
proportional increase of the entire population of the State one 
hundred per cent. Boston, which, for the importance of its com- 
merce, rivals New York, exhibits the same proportional increase. 
Philadelphia and Baltimore have augmented in a somewhat 
slower ratio. 

North America presents, in the progress of its population, a 
spectacle wdthout parallel in the history of the world ; a spec- 
tacle which well deserves the attention of political economists, for 
it demonstrates the advantages of free institutions in relation to 
the progress of humanity. 

The American republic was originally composed of thirteen 
States. The number has increased to thirty. 

At the close of the last century, the population of the United 
States was less than four millions, somewhat below that of Belgium. 
At the present time, it is at least tiventy-one millions, exceeding 
that of Great Britain. It has therefore quintupled in less than 
half a century. 

In my opinion, nothing can soon check this progress, for cir- 
cumstances favorable to the development of the human family 
will long continue to exist in America. It is, in fact, the only 
spot in the world where man can find liberty, and individual 
security, in addition to a vast territory which he can explore 
agreeably to his means and tastes; and of all conditions, as we 
have elsewhere said, tffese are most favorable for the augmenta- 
tion of population. 



RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 429 



CHAPTER XVL 

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Religions character of the early inhabitants— Diffusion of knowledge among them 
—Diversity of religions gives dignity and strength to the religious sentiment- 
Character of Christianity— Catbolicism in the United States— Influence of the 
democratic principle on religious observances. 

Without faith, there is no religion ; without religion, there can 
be no democratic society. Democracy is faith. It is unable to 
maintain itself, to govern man, to develop his faculties, and insure 
his prosperity, unless it be loved and truly respected ; it is in- 
operative unless men confide in the sinceje devotion, in the 
moral worth of the rulers they have chosen. Religion is the 
common source of all the benevolent ideas that exercisl influence 
on mankind. 

^ The great advantage of American society is that it was ori- 
ginally constituted in accordance with these convictions. The 
early Americans had the good fortune to perceive the harmony 
which exists between the Christian faith and their political prin- 
ciples. Therefore, all entertain fixed religious opinions. Faith 
is merged in their political existence ; nor can they conceive of a 
democratic society without it any more than they can conceive of 
the navigation of a ship without a pilot. Thus, the source of 
their democratic instincts is religion, and its constant practice in 
the daily pursuits of life. The ideas the Americans entertain of 
the Almighty, of his relations ta mankind, of the nature of the 
soul, have dictated their duties to their fellows, as well as their 
course of conduct, the character of their administration, their 
respect for the laws they have adopted, and, in fine, the princi- 
pies of order so eminently characteristic of American society 

Doubt concerning matters of faith never enters the heart of 
an American. He constantly thinks of the destiny of his human 
nature. Accustomed to such reflections from an early ao-e he 
cultivates them with ardor. He habitually seeks to acquire°clear 



430 AMERICAN POWER. 

ideas on religious subjects. He is always as ready to defend his 
religious as his political principles. *With him, both are all- 
powerful. He intrusts to no one the care of these matters. 
Implicit submission to a dogma which assumes to guide him 
independent of his own religious sentiments, he would consider 
an act of cowardice as despicable as the support of a political 
party, without due conviction or enlightened devotion. He 
acknowledges an authority in religious as well as in political 
matters. But this recognition harmonizes with his convictions. 
He yields to it in the same way he yields obedience to the laws. 

The American people are therefore religious by their origin, 
by conviction, and by democratic principles. But what gives 
security to religion among them is the universal enlightenment of 
the people, and the circumstance that religious teachers, while they 
point the mind of man to the true object of desire beyond the 
present life, do not condemn a rational care for the things of this 
world. Material enjoyments are allowed, and in a measure even 
encouraged, but as a means of more surely attaining that Christ- 
ian goal which every one should strive to reach according to his 
talents, his circumstances, and the duties imposed on him by 
society. 

Thus, all the various elements of this society are harmonized ; 
all tend to a common result. In this society, man moves onward 
solely by the power of his intelligence, in accordance with the 
principles of equality — principles to which the Christian faith 
imparts a strength, an activity, and a life which emanate from a 
superhuman source. 

Need we be astonished, then, that, in a society where such a 
state of things exists, religion preserves its empire? Undoubt- 
edly not. For faith is as clear as light itself, the existence of 
which the blind alone can deny. But with respect to belief in 
the Deity, none of this class can exist. 

Butj in the United States, where knowledge is diffused in a 
degree equal to the spread of the democratic principles on which 
society is based, and where, consequently, men are placed on a 
common level, ideas of Christianity are the same. All profess 
the same religion, the same faith, and entertain the same convic- 
tions, though in some cases they adopt different vestments, if I 
may thus express myself when speaking of various sects which 
seem merely like so many branches borne by the tree of the 



RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 431 

Christian religion. This exuberance in growth of the same tree 
has, by weakening the power of the Established Church, power- 
fully assailed its fundamental dogma. But the dissenters, thus 
augmenting, have spread the religion of Christ without securing 
to any one sect peculiar privileges, or an ascendency above ano- 
ther. This is, undoubtedly, an immense advantage in relation to 
public morals, for it greatly contributes to give stability to the 
excellent institutions of that country. Divergence in religious 
opinions is, in fact, the most favorable of all conditions for the 
power and dignity of the religious sentiment, such as it can and 
ought to be understood by an enlightened society. 

Every one in the United States professes a religion, which he 
practically observes with strictness. No one feels unwilling to 
perform the first duty which Providence has imposed on man. 
Each, while discharging this duty, seeks to fulfil all the condi- 
tions it involves. Religion is not a law of the State. It is more 
than that. It is a law of conscience. By obedience to its re- 
quirements, we set an example of order and discipline which should 
govern every society desirous of living and prospering under 
democratic institutions. 

Christianity, undoubtedly the most beautiful religion that has 
shed its light on the world, is, like every institution, the product 
of time, the fruit of reflection, the result of experience. By ob- 
serving the fruit it has borne in the New World, we become better 
enabled to recognize its immortal supremacy. The various trans- 
formations to which it has been subjected, the struggles it has 
had to sustain, the resistance, in, a word, it has encountered, have 
had a miraculous effect on its progress. In fact, Christianity must 
always be militant to attract superior minds. Otherwise, such 
minds would abandon it for politics and philosophy. 

What constitutes the strength of Christianity in America is that 
the most able and illustrious men in the country yield it their 
homage, take an active part in its diflfusion, and preach its doc- 
trines. There, Christianity advances coincidently with all other 
manifestations of truth. There, nothing is stationary. There, the 
teachers of religion devote their attention to preserve Christianity 
in all its social importance, to draw from it all it contains fruitful 
for humanity, and all that is consoling for the suffering. But, above 
all, they are careful not to place it in antagonism to the mate- 
rial welfare or individuality of man, on which, in fact, they repose ; 
and this, in my opinion, is a great proof of wisdom ; for, to 



432 AMERICAN POWER. 

make proselytes at the present epoch of equality and positive 
ideas, it is certainly unnecessary to decry wealth, and the com- 
fort it secures to those whose industry has been incessantly de- 
voted to its acquisition. 

Christianity, in the United States, is clothed in its primitive, 
independent, democratic character. There it preaches, as well as 
furnishes an example of, equality and human fraternity. Its main- 
tenance is not the work of a privileged caste, or of powerful 
individuals. It is a tie that binds together all classes of society. 

Another characteristic of Christianity in the United States is 
that the deference shown to the externals of religion is never con- 
founded with the homage due only to the Supreme Being. Forms 
and external observances are distinguished for their simplicity, or, 
rather, so to speak, these have no existence. A declaration of 
faith, and intercourse between the creature and the Creator through 
prayer, constitute the substance of practical Christianity, Cere- 
monies there are none. The imposing simplicity of an assem- 
blage of men drawn together by a common object, that of render- 
ing thanks to God for the mercies he has vouchsafed to extend to 
the community, and of profitably listening to an exposition, by 
the ministers of religion, of the moral end every society organized 
on the healthful and durable basis of equality ought to strive to 
attain, is everywhere exhibited. 

Catholics are the only sect which, in a measure, form an ex- 
ception to this general rule. Nevertheless, it must be acknow- 
ledged that Catholicism in the United States differs essentially 
from Catholicism in Europe. It is the same faith, subjected to 
the same rules, to the same discipline, to the same spiritual head; 
but its forms have undergone considerable modification through 
the intellectual sway of the majority, to which the Catholic priests 
have had the good sense to submit. In matters of religion as well 
as in politics, the majority rules in the United States. 

By thus respecting the instincts of American society, by keep- 
ing pace with all the Christian sects in America, by coming in 
contact with none of their prejudices,' by redoubling their zeal, 
talent, and devotion in behalf of the great cause of civilization 
and the onward march of society, the Catholics have made rapid 
progress. Faith and tolerance are the banners under which 
Catholicism advances. It is not the unity of the government of 
the Roman Church which constitutes its strength and secures its 



RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 433 

advancement ; for, so susceptible are the democrats of the United 
States, that they hold the governmental unity of the Romen Church 
in suspicion. In fact, this unity and democracy are antagonistic 
forces, and cannot advance in harmony on the same territory. 
The one must give place to the other. 

The circumstance most favorable to the extension of Roman 
Catholicism in the United States is this : The American Catholic 
exhibits a tendency to depart from the unity of the church, because 
it involves the recognition of a temporal chief, whose origin, like 
his principles, conflicts with democratic unity. 

So powerful is the Puritan and democratic influence in the 
United States, that, in my opinion, the number of Roman Catholics 
would sensibly diminish, were it not so immeasurably recruited 
by the emigrants who annually arrive from Europe, and especially 
from Ireland. 

The Catholic population in the United States amounts, at pre- 
sent, to more than one million three hundred thousand ; in other 
words, the proportion of members the Roman Church holds in its 
bosom, compared to those w^ho may, in that country, be con- 
sidered to have left it, is as 1 to. 13.1. 

Certainly, this proportion of population, gathered around the 
same faith, is very large, compared to that which has separated 
from it in a thousand different directions. This increase of 
Catholics, of late years, need excite no surprise. I ought, how- 
ever, to acknowledge that it presents a somewhat alarming aspect 
when we take into consideration the fact that the principles of 
the Fathers of the Roman Church are antagoni&tic to democratic 
unity and democratic institutions. The occult power of Rome 
has ways against which all democratic societies can scarcely 
know too well how to guard. The spirit of humble resignation 
and affected tolerance which characterizes the Catholic clergy of 
America should not blind these societies to the sinister views that 
are cherished with remarkable steadiness of purpose by a power 
that ever seeks, with the object of securing temporal dominion, and 
of thus intermeddling in political affairs, the* subjection of soul?, 
rather than the diffusion of the light, and the administration of the 
consolations, of the religion of Christ. Still, I by no means wish 
to deny the good effected by the Catholic clergy, or the immense 
services that certain religious communities, and among others the 
missionaries, have rendered to the cause of civilization in the New 
28 



434 AMERICAN POWER. 

World. Of this fact, I have myself collected substantial proofs 
in my extensive travels in North America. And to the merit and 
noble self-devotion of our French missionaries I trust I have 
rendered adequate justice in the former part of this work. 

Moreover, up to the present time, Catholicism has been character- 
ized by the same spirit of liberty and independence which has ex- 
erted so powerful an influence on all religious associations in the 
United States. I am pleased to hope, while acknowledging the 
weaknesses too common to the human intellect in the New as well 
as in the Old Hemisphere, that the Americans will never attempt to 
reconcile two contradictory principles — that of allegiance to the 
temporal power of the pope, as far as their religious convictions 
are concerned, and that of the democratic unity which prescribes 
the sovereignty and independence of the nation, and, by conse- 
quence, of all the citizens of which it is composed. 

Besides, such a state of things, or schism, has, to my know- 
ledge, already existed in the United States; but I am not aware 
that society has been thereby endangered. I have heard the 
temporal power of the pope denied by the Catholics of Louisiana, 
who, nevertheless, zealously persevered in all the observances of 
the Catholic religion. It certainly cannot be impossible for the 
Catholics of the United States to profess faith in the doctrines of 
their church without submission to the absolute authority of a head 
Avho resides beyond the American territory. The times of abso- 
lutism in religious belief have passed away, and the present state 
of knowledge, especially among the Americans, precludes their 
return. 

It is my belief that, in periods remarkable for the prevalence of 
democratic principles, men should devote their utmost attention to 
Christianity. But they should throw off the trammels of the Roman 
Catholic Church, whose laws and temporal requirements widely 
diverge from true Christianity. To remain within the pale of this 
church, to submit to the sway involved in the assumption of its 
temporal unity, would involve a degree of spiritual resignation but 
little in harmony with the habits which are the fruit of liberty. 
Now the influence of liberty is daily extending with such rapidity 
as to destroy every feeling of servility even among the organs of 
pontifical authority ! 

I shall conclude this chapter by remarking that the religious 
seels of the United States furnish a class of men ever disposed to 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 435 

check, by all the potency of religious conviction, the inroads of 
vice, and of loose morals, the two greatest enemies of liberty. 

To attempt to estimate the duration of American institutions 
would be an impossibility. All human works must have an end 
as they have had a commencement. But as this result can take 
place only through the introduction of vice into the community, 
I regard the noble and pacific influence of Christianity as one of 
the means of indefinitely retarding it. In America, Christianity 
never swerves from its mission. While inculcating morality, 
without forbidding the pursuit of material interests, it constantly 
leads man to recognize this great truth : "That, as children of a 
common Providence, we should render to God, as an offering, our 
first and our latest vows." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Mutual relations of education and religion — Touching; example of the devotion of the 
early emigrants in the cause of public instruction — Law relative to public instruc- 
tion in New England — Existence of the same laws in the Western States — System 
followed in Ohio : in New York — Condition of education in the United States in 
1840 — Sunday schools — Public course of lectures for young mechanics of various 
trades — Inclination for intellectual pleasures found in every class of society — Mean 
level in American society — In the United States, no special schools for instruc- 
tion in political economy and mercantile affairs — Society considered the best 
school — Democracy favorable to the development of knowledge. 

I HAVE already stated, in the preceding chapter, that religion in 
the United States is of the most elevated kind, and uncontami- 
nated with the prejudices of ignorance, and that its wide diffu- 
sion is attributable to the general education of the people. No 
society has ever made more arduous efforts and greater sacrifices 
to extend the benefits of instruction. Religion and education 
among the Americans afford each other mutual support, and thus 
serve to maintain, in their integrity, the true principles of liberty 
and equality. 

This blending of religion and instruction, the only durable basis 



436 AMERICAN POWER. 

of democracy, was characteristic of the early emigrants, and was 
developed, from the day of their arrival in the land to which they 
were expatriated, with a fervor equaled only by their faith, and 
by their desire to be free. 

In September, 1636, sixteen years after the landing of the Pil- 
grims on Plymouth Rock, the administrative council of the colony, 
then called the General Court, voted two thousand dollars to 
found a university. This institution took the name of Harvard, 
after one of its first benefactors. At that time, two thousand dollars 
was an enormous sum, and equivalent to a whole year's income 
of the colony, then spread over a space of thirty-seven thousand 
acres. But, when we consider the circumstances of these emi- 
grants, this donation appears in a still more meritorious light. 
The colony was in want of everything. It was constantly harassed 
by the natives. Its inhabitants were few in number, not exceed- 
ing five thousand families at most. In addition to this, the ferment 
occasioned by differences of religious opinion menaced internal 
peace. Notwithstanding these unfavorable circumstances, we 
say, the colonists did not hesitate to assume the expense of found- 
ing and maintaining an establishment for public instruction. 

Such an act is too honorable to the memory of the courageous 
emigrants who planted one of the first colonies in New England, 
to be overlooked by the historian. This act alone shows their 
character and spirit; their just appreciation of the importance of 
education; and is a striking instance of the eflTorts they made, in 
truly trying times, to insure the advantages of education to the 
citizens destined to enjoy their inheritance. 

Thus, the Americans, from the earliest period of their history, 
have understood clearly that the maintenance of equality among 
men requires, as an indispensable condition, equality as much as 
possible in the minds of men themselves, through the common 
enjoyment of adequate means of education. 

Each society, with laudable emulation, strove to rival the other, 
in the application of means requisite to prevent the spread of ig- 
norance, and thus to secure the blessings of liberty. 

A law in New England compelled every community of fifty 
families to support a school of primary instruction, to which all 
the inhabitants were obliged to send their children. In towns 
which numbered at least one hundred families, the inhabit- 
ants were compelled by law to maintain a high school, where 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 437 

pupils might be prepared for admission into Harvard University. 
By this means, the American youth could find, on their native 
soil, all the elements of a complete education. 

Such were the wise regulations by which the Puritans of 1647, 
that is to say, of the first generation, sought to secure, for their 
new country, a healthy population, capable of appreciating the 
blessings of liberty. True, as we have said, the resources of these 
men were very limited ; but they made the greatest sacrifices in 
laying a foundation of universal instruction. What an example! 
What a practical exhibition of democratic institutions ! 

Time and circumstances have gradually modified this law, the 
most sacred of all social laws. It has not been transmitted to us 
in all its force, in all its purity, in all its primitive vigor : and the 
injunction to every family to send its children to a primary parish 
school has not always had a uniform degree of force. But its 
spirit has remained the same, pervading all of the Eastern States, 
and sowing deep and lasting seed throughout all parts of the 
Union to which the children of New England have emigrated — 
thus preparing the rising generation to preserve the freedom which 
prior generations had conquered and maintained. 

In Massachusetts, out of a population, between the ages of four 
and sixteen, numbering 185,058, 12,000 are attached to private 
institutions, and 173,058 depend on public institutions for their 
education. Nevertheless, of this number, only 133,448 are found 
in public schools during the summer, and the average attendance 
is only 96,525. In winter, the number is greater, amounting to 
159,056 ; average attendance, 107,542. The number of teachers 
is 6,782, of which 4,282 are females. This disproportion in the 
number of teachers of the different sexes appears to be quite 
a remarkable feature in the eyes of a European; but the fact is 
that in the United States it is as common to see women employed 
in teaching as it is rare to see them working in the fields! The 
average salary per month of male teachers is thirty-two dollars; 
of female teachers twelve dollars. 

We must confess that we are astonished at so great a differ- 
ence in the compensation of these two classes of teachers, espe- 
cially when we consider the fact that good common female opera- 
tives in the manufactories receive much higher wages. Never- 
theless, the number of females who make application for positions 



438 AMERICAN POWER. 

as teachers augments every year, and in a proportion much beyond 
that of males. 

There are three normal schools in Massachusetts, where persons 
of either sex, destined for public teaching, can receive a special 
education. 

In the primary schools, reading, writing, arithmetic, orthogra- 
phy, English grammar, and geography are taught. 

In order to encourage the formation of a library at the seat of 
each public school, the State has pledged itself to appropriate 
fifteen thousand dollars a year to every township which shall raise 
an ecpial sum, either by subscription or donation. This money is 
annually applied to the purchase of books, an arrangement pro- 
ductive of the most happy results. By this means, more than 
forty thousand volumes have been purchased in six months for 
the use of schools. 

Each township, as I have before stated, is bound to supply funds 
for the education of its children. The average assessment a year 
for each child, during the year 1841, was two dollars and seventy- 
one cents ; and in 1842 it was two dollars and eighty-four cents. 

In Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri, where 
emigrants from New England are found in large number, primary 
instruction, ever following in the wake of this people, extends its 
blessings to the threshold of every citizen. 

Ohio is one of the States in \yhic'h education has made the 
greatest progress. In the constitution of that State, it has been 
laid down as a principle that "religion, morality, and education 
are essential to the existence of good government, and to the 
welfare of man." The public schools are immediately under 
the control of the government ; but this control conflicts in no in- 
stance with'the rights and liberty of conscience. 

The system of public instruction is there founded upon the 
best possible basis. The State has also made provision for the 
establishment of high schools and universities. 

By virtue of this vast and judicious system of education, Ohio 
has become the intellectual rendezvous of young men from the 
west, from the south-west, and from the east, who, while imbibing 
at its schools salutary lessons in morals and science for the guidance 
of their future life, become familiarized with the contemplation of 
the vast prodigies to which the rich countries of the west have 
given birth; wonders which, thus early impressing their youthful 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. , 439 

imaginations, implant in their being that germ of activity and spirit 
of adventure which are the distinctive elements of their character. 
Ohio contains six large colleges at which degrees are conferred, 
and a great number of secondary schools. Each village has its 
primary school. 

The education of females receives an equal degree of attention. 
In every city of considerable size, well-directed institutions are to 
be found, where their moral and intellectual culture is secured in 
such a manner as to make them in an equal degree honorable 
mothers and useful companions in life. 

In New York, the introduction of primary education, under the 
immediate protection of the Legislative Assembly, dates from the 
year 1795, a period at which one hundred thousand dollars were 
annually appropriated for its support. In 1805, the legislature 
devoted, as a permanent fund for the purposes of general education, 
the proceeds of certain public lands. Public instruction again 
attracted the attention of the legislature in 1812, when the system 
was regulated, and a liberal provision made for its necessities. 

In 1841, there were 10,769 common school districts in the 
State, which received, exclusive of the city of New York, 592,564 
children over five and under sixteen years of age. 

The public school fund amounted, at that time, to six million 
dollars. 

The salary of teachers was eighteen dollars per month. 
These schools are open, on the average, eight months in the 
year. 

Experience has proved that the interest public instruction 
awakens is considerably enhanced when the expense of the estab- 
lishment of schools is borne as well by the districts as by the 
State. 

Public instruction in all the States of the Union has been con- 
sidered by legislators an object of the first importance. Thus, in 
every State, there exists a school fund which is based on a large 
dotation of public land, the interest of which is exclusively de- 
voted to purposes of education. All the advantages arising'from 
augmentation in value of these lands accrue to the institution for 
which they were set apart. A direct tax, levied on the inhabit- 
ants, also furnishes its contingent to the support of public schools. 
The school fund is often further augmented by voluntary dona- 
tions. 



440 AMERICAN POWER. 

The following statement, obtained from official reports, exhibits 
the present condition of public instruction in the United States : — 

Primary or Common Schools. — Number of schools, 50,000; 
pupils, 2,000,000. Pupils educated at the public expense, 
408,261. 

High Schools, and Boarding Schools. — Number of schools, 
6,000; pupils, 250,000. 

To these establishments, a great number of complementary and 
industrial schools must be added, in which, by an admirable 
arrangement, the youth devote one-half of their time to a scholastic 
and the other half to a practical life, and thus, by their labor, con- 
tribute towards their own support. These industrial schools, by 
virtue of their success, have of late years greatly multiplied. They 
are established in the vicinity of large cities, both in the Eastern 
and Western States. With this class must also be associated 
certain special schools attached to large manufacturing establish- 
ments, where the children of operatives, and even adults, during 
hours not devoted to their regular occupations, receive a knowledge 
of the principles that will enable them to become good workmen 
or skillful foremen. 

University Instruction. — The number of colleges or universities 
(in the United States, these terms are synonymous) is 178, of 
which 37 are medical schools ; 34 theological seminaries ; and 9 
law schools. Number of students, 20,000. In all Europe, there 
are only 117 colleges, and 94,000 students. 

In the State of New York, with a population of 2,500,000 in- 
habitants, there are 12 colleges, and 1285 students; that is to 
say, a college for every 200,000 inhabitants and every 167 stu- 
dents. In Prussia, with a population of 14,000,000 inhabitants, 
there are seven universities and 5,220 students; or, one univer- 
sity for every 2,000,000 inhabitants and every 373 students. 
Therefore, in Prussia, one inhabitant in 2682 is a member of a 
university, and in New York one in 1946. 

In 1842, France, with a population of 34,494,000 souls, con- 
tained fourteen royal colleges, and 18,697 students; or one col- 
lege for every 2,420,000 inhabitants. That is to say, one person 
in every 1845 attends college. 

In Pennsylvania, with a population of less than 2,000,000, 
there are 20 colleges and 2054 students, or one in 973. 

In the New^ England States, with a total population of about 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 441 

2,250,000 inhabitants, there are 19 colleges, and 2857 students, 
or one in 787. 

In Great Britain, with a population of 27,000,000, there are 27 
universities and 17,750 students, or one in 1521. 

Thus, the regular means of education are much more abundant 
in the United States than in any part of the world. 

The large colleges or universities, in the United States, are 
generally under the supervision of a council of instruction desig- 
nated indiscriminately, a Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, or 
Corporation. This council, appointed by the State legislatures, is 
invested with great power, which it seldom has sufficient inde- 
pendence to exercise in all its plenitude. For instance, it is 
empowered to control the administration of the college, to appoint 
professors, to grant degrees, to determine the mode of instruction, 
and the programme of studies. The law, certainly, could' not 
place a greater responsibility in the hands of a few directors. 

The college course comprises Latin, Greek, mathematics, and 
the natural and physical sciences; it also includes the ancient 
and modern languages, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Italian, Portu- 
guese, and German. ^ 

In Latin, the course of study is Livy, Tacitus, Horace, Cicero, 
Juvenal, &c. In Greek, Xenophon, the Iliad, Sophocles, J^schy- 
lus, Demosthenes, &c. 

In mathematics, plane and solid geometry, algebra, plane and 
spherical trigonometry, the application of algebra to geometry, 
and analytical geometry. 

Also, mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, and astronomy, che- 
mistry, geology, and botany. 

Rhetoric, theoretical and practical, philosophy, political economy, 
and the Constitution of the United States, are also studied. 

There are also special courses, apart from the ordinary instruc- 
tion in the college, on electricity, magnetism, and acoustics ; on 
ancient and modern history; on the differential and integral cal- 
culus; on mineralogy and anatomy; on the application, in fine, 
of science to the arts. 

The students remain four years at colleo^e. Their ajre is irene- 
rally from twelve to twenty years. Eighteen is the age of the 
greatest number. 

This programme, which is the course followed at Harvard 
College, one of the most celebrated in the United States, is very 
nearly the same as that pursued at all the other universities. 



442 AMERICAN POWER. 

The government of the United States supports two national 
schools ; one for the army, the other for the navy. 

The first, under the name of the Military Academy of West 
Point, has considerable celebrity. It was founded on the same 
basis as the Polytechnic School of Paris. Its object is to impart 
instruction in the higher branches of mathematical science. 

The second is at Annapolis, on Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland. 
This institution is very flourishing, and furnishes a nursery of ex- 
cellent officers for the national marine. 

But in addition to all these rather official means of spreading 
information among all classes of society, the Americans have 
availed themselves of other resources, which have their foundation 
in individual feeling, and which produce equally happy results 
on the moral and intellectual condition of the people. I allude 
to Sunday Schools, which are in full operation in various parts of 
the United States. 

These schools are generally under the immediate superintend- 
ence of those who are most favored by fortune and education. 
Men and women belonging to this class of society, which, in 
Franc^, would be called the high bourgeoisie, strive to rival each 
other in devotion to the cause of instruction among the laboring 
classes — a pious work, which finds its reward in the satisfaction 
that ever attends the performance of an act of charity. 

It is estimated that there are sixteen thousand Sunday schools 
in the United States ; and that in these more than one million 
children are taught to read. The principles of instruction given 
in these institutions are derived directly from the Holy Bible. 
For this purpose, books are employed in which the Old and New 
Testaments are reproduced by means of questions and answers ; 
or at least such interesting portions of Holy Writ as are best 
adapted for moral instruction. Most of these schools possess 
libraries. 

It is impossible to form a correct idea of the excellent moral 
eflfect of these schools on the laboring classes, for whom they are 
especially established. 

I was several times invited to visit them. Amons: other occa- 
sions, I recollect that I was once at the residence of Messrs. 
Dupont (de Nemours), on the Brandywine, which empties into 
the Delaware, where the two brothers had been the first to 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 44§ 

establish important powder mills. On this occasion, I saw the 
sons and daughters of these celebrated manufacturers actively 
engaged in directing one of these institutions. I can particularly 
call to mind the neat and cleanly appearance of the young boys and 
girls, their contented bearing, and the satisfaction they exhibited 
in being taught by the children of their employers. There was 
thus established, in that class of young operatives, through the 
instruction of their young teachers, a degree of self-respect and 
correct deportment, the salutary effects of which it would afford 
us pleasure to perceive more frequently among the ranks of more 
elevated classes in Europe. 

The number of institutions whose object is to instruct the 
people in the various branches of industry pursued in the United 
States is infinite. Each State, county, township, and city pos- 
sesses several of them. New associations are annually formed 
for the establishment of libraries and lecture rooms, designed 
especially for youth, whether engaged in commerce, or in the in- 
dustrial and liberal arts. 

' In Massachusetts, for example, each county is provided with 
several public libraries, supported by .the voluntary contributions 
of societies for public instruction. These libraries contain alto- 
gether about 185,000 volumes. Public lectures are there delivered 
gratuitously; for which lectures, attended by thirty-three thousand 
individuals, these institutions have expended in one year more 
than twenty thousand dollars. 

In this State, three hundred and seven towns or villages also 
possess public libraries, a certain number of which, connected 
with colleges, are well supplied. The library of Harvard Uni- 
versity contains fifty-one thousand volumes; that of Amherst, 
thirteen thousand ; that of William, seven thousand five hundred ; 
that of the Society of American Antiquities, in Boston, twelve 
thousand. 

Boston alone has more than ten circulating libraries, containing, 
on the whole, fifty thousand volumes. 

The whole number of books in the public libraries of Massa- 
chusetts, exclusive of those belonging to the Sunday schools, is 
520,000 volumes. 

Not unfrequently, the most eminent men of the country contri- 
bute gratuitously towards the advancement, of public education, 
and deliver to the working classes lectures on political economy, 
finance, morals, and literature. 



444 AMERICAN POWER. 

The venerable ex-president Adams was in the habit of stopping 
at the large cities of the Union, in his journey from Boston to 
Washington, for the purpose of delivering lectures to young 
mechanics and apprentices on the most important subjects of 
public education. During his sojourn at Baltimore, he treated 
such profound questions as the commercial rights of nations; 
developed the characteristic qualities of the mercantile and the 
operative classes ; and eloquently exhibited the progress of civil- 
ization through the happy influence of education placed within 
the reach of the masses. 

In all these lectures, the principles of a sound democracy in- 
variably form the text of certain general reviews to which the 
attention of the auditors is carefully directed. Society is thus con- 
stantly placed on its guard against the doctrines of demagogues, 
who might scatter seeds subversive of democratic principles. 
'The auditors are ever reminded of the truth inscribed at the head 
of the American Constitution, that labor is the common duty of 
all classes of society, since a respectable position in life can be 
secured only by individual effort; that the nature of the institu- 
tions, the character of the laws, and the genius of the government 
of the American Union are adverse to the introduction of special 
privileges in behalf of any particular portion of society, and to the 
accumulation of wealth in a single family ; that they annul, in 
fact, all distinctions of birth or rank. 

Moreover, daily experience presents proof sufficiently abun- 
dant that the poor of one generation become the rich of the follow- 
ing generation; that the man who moves in the humblest walks of 
life constantly rises in the scale of social elevation by means of 
industry and integrity of character; while he whose pretensions 
are based on the fortune he has inherited finds, when this is 
gone, that he has leaned on a broken reed. The only aristocracy 
recognized by American institutions is that of intellect and virtue. 

Nothing, certainly, can more eflfectually contribute to the 
strength and perpetuity of American institutions than these series 
of public lectures, which are multiplying with such rapidity; for 
they afford the opportunity of counteracting the dangerous tend- 
encies of false ideas of luxury, in the public mind, through the 
inculcation of activity and industry. It must be acknowledged 
that, in the United States, the national sentiment is directed in 
a far greater degree towards the useful than the ornamental ; and 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. 445 

that much less attention is now paid to sculpture, architecture, 
and painting, than to pursuits conducive to the welfare of the 
majority. 

But every social improvement has its peculiar epoch, and that 
of the fine arts cannot certainly be very distant in the United 
States ; for in America, we already find a large number of individu- 
als gifted with a natural as well as cultivated taste for the beauti- 
ful, and a just appreciation of the liberal arts. With respect to 
those noble professions which indicate, among the people who 
cultivate them with most success, the degree of their progress 
in civilization, America is not behind other nations, apparently 
more advanced; for it already contains a numerous class of 
artists of all kinds, whose names are honorably placed beside 
those who in Europe occupy the highest rank. 

Thus, the American people, in proportion to the diffusion of 
knowledge, and the development of intelligence, exhibit progress 
in all their social relations, their civil and commercial institutions, 
and in all their material interests. 

Instruction, from its lowest grade in the primary school to the 
most elevated in literature and science, diffuses its illuminating 
influences throughout all ranks of American society; in fact, the 
Americans appreciate it too well, as an element of wealth, pros- 
perity, and independence, to forego results so auspicious. 

Education is generally completed at an early age, because of 
the necessity of adopting a profession to which several years of 
apprenticeship are required. But a considerable number of 
Americans, in addition to acquiring a special education, prosecute 
some particular branch of science, as well for the love of know- 
ledge as on account of a desire to attain a distinguished position 
among their countrymen. 

In America, the greater number of wealthy individuals have 
undoubtedly commenced life with scanty means. But there, as 
everywhere else, those who have a taste for study are in very 
small proportion, and seldom belong to the wealthy classes; and, 
by a peculiar instinct, they always find time to devote them- 
selves to literature. 

The taste for intellectual pleasures is transmitted no more than 
any other of the inclinations characteristic of man ; and the posses- 
sion of wealth, whether acquired or inherited, has no specific rela- 
tion to this endowment of our nature. Therefore, we find in the 



446 AMERICAN POWER; 

United States, as elsewhere, in all conditions of life, men who 
highly honor intellectual pursuits. Thus, the will to devote one's 
self to these pursuits is no more lacking than the power. 

I do not believe that in any society human knowledge exhibits 
so marked an average level as in the United States. But I do 
not believe that this intellectual condition has operated unfavor- 
ably on superior or incomparably gifted minds. On the contrary, 
I believe that there is a constant upward movement. I believe 
that in American society, the many rise, not that men of genius 
and talent fall, in the scale of intellectual cultivation. 

This theory of the abasement of the human mind appears to 
me absurd and contrary to nature. The able professor may 
descend to the level of the understanding of his auditors to make 
himself understood; but it is absurd to assume that his lofty 
intellect must thereby receive injury. 

There is an immense multitude of individuals in the United 
States whose range of knowledge on matters of religion, history, 
science, political economy, legislation, and government, is about 
equal. This circumstance is not attributable to a lack of adequate 
information concerning these branches of knowledge, but to the 
unrestricted transmission of ideas and facts through those innu- 
merable channels which the advanced state of instruction has 
placed within the reach of everybody. 

Let it not be supposed that, in the United States, as in the 
cities of Europe, special schools exist, in which professors of 
commercial science, political economy, legislation, or government, 
merely treat these various subjects at a great expense of elo- 
quence, abstract reasoning, and vague theory. In that country, 
society is considered the best school to acquire such information, 
and the affairs of common life are regarded as the best of all 
practical lessons. The Americans are able masters of every- 
thing that relates to the practical application of the different 
branches of human knowledge, whilst in many cases able pro- 
fessors, who discourse elaborately before our assemblies on the 
same matters, are in reality only pupils. The parts, in fact, are 
reversed. 

In France, we do not lack able professors of commercial 
science or political economy ; but we have very few practical 
men, true merchants, and still fewer economists. 



THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 447 

CONDITION OF THE PRKSS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

If the Americans, as politicians, make great use of language, 
they make equally great use of the means of transmitting it. In 
confirmation of this statement, it is only necessary to state that 
the number of periodical publications of all kinds annually printed 
in the United States actually exceeds two thousand. 

In the United States, the people write a great deal, but read 
more, for in that country almost everybody knows how to read; 
hence the influence of the press is much greater than that of 
the rostrum. The press speaks to the whole people, the only 
people, perhaps, in the world, who are adequately instructed in 
the knowledge required to secure obedience to the laws. Let it 
also be borne in mind that, in the United States, the press respects 
itself; that the columns of an American newspaper, unlike those 
of certain French journals, are never disgraced by scandalous 
histories and obscene romances ; and that the public organs of 
this democratic country could not abandon themselves to the pro- 
pagation of immorality without drawing upon them the censure 
of society and the severity of the laws. 

The American press is not required to give security, nor is it 
subject to a stamp act. 

The periodical newspapers are classed as follows : — 

Daily papers 255 

Weekly " 1250 

Semi-weekly papers 248 

Monthly " 250 

If we can infer the general education of a people from the 
means within its control of disseminating useful knowledge, the 
United States must undoubtedly appear far more advanced than 
any country in the world, since a comparison of the number of 
the newspapers with the respective populations of the various 
nations of the world exhibits the following results. The propor- 
tion of newspapers is — 



In the Slave States 




2 for 


every 


10,000 inhabitants 


In the non-slaveholding 


States 


2 




8,285 


In Belgium, 




2 




20,000 


In Holland, 




1 




24,000 


In Denmark, 




1 




25,000 


In Prussia, 




1 




56,000 



448 AMERICAN POWER. 



In Great Britain, 1 


for every 60,000 inhabitants 


In Switzerland, 1 


70,000 


In France, 1 


136,000 


In Portugal, 1 


223,000 


In Austria, 1 


362,000 


In Russia in Europe, 1 


500,000 


In Spain, 1 


1,416,000 



To an American, a newspaper is a daily intellectual necessity; 
as much of a necessity, in fact, as his breakfast or other repast 
for his physical sustenance. The newspaper is everywhere. It 
is found in every house, on board of the steamboat, in the rail- 
road car, in the city, in the country, in the school, and in the 
factory. 

In the great manufacturing city of Lowell, for example, the 
females employed in the mills publish a newspaper. 

Let us here remark, while speaking of the intellectual direction 
thus given to labor in the workshop, that these female operatives 
can devote their moments of leisure to reading, to music, or to 
such other instructive amusement as they may select, in balls 
built expressly for this object, and exclusively reserved for their 
use. 

The newspaper, then, follows the American wherever he emi- 
grates ; it is his faithful companion. Thus, in those great move- 
ments which bear the civilization of the East towards the West, 
the hardy pioneer is always accompanied by a missionary, a law- 
yer, a physician, and an editor of a newspaper. Three American 
daily papers are now published west of the Rocky Mountains; 
one in Oregon, one at Astoria, and one at Monterey in Upper 
California. 

American authors produce fewer works of imagination and of 
deep reasoning than works which make known the results of 
their own observations, or embody an interpretation of their own 
ideas. In general, they treat only of those subjects with which 
they are perfectly acquainted, and which enable them to extend 
the range of their experience through the relation these subjects 
bear to practice. They rarely devote their attention, either in 
rational examinations, or in writing commentaries, to the elucida- 
non of the productions of bygone authors. Let it also be re- 
marked that American productions are stamped rather with the 
practical intelligence of their authors than wiih elevation of style 
or profound erudition. 



POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 449 

For this reason, it is a matter of no surprise that American 
writers confine their attention rather to subjects of religion, of 
legislation, or of education, than to those of imagination, senti- 
ment, or profound science — subjects which always suppose in 
those who cultivate them a degree of leisure that American society 
can scarcely yet be said to possess. 

Nevertheless, we must not thence conclude that business ope- 
rates as a powerful diversion against study, and that retirement 
and leisure constitute the principal elements in the progress a.s 
well as the practice of letters. On the contrary, the most power- 
ful efforts of the imagination are almost always in close relation 
with humanity, and are, in consequence, generally the result of 
contact with mankind. Certainly, these efforts are the more 
vigorous in proportion as the mind is stimulated by those main- 
springs of humanity, emulation, friendship, and the antagonistic 
elements that are engendered among an active, energetic, and 
ambitious people, surrounded by circumstances which impel a 
free society in the direction of the great movement of progress. 
In fact, such a society is capable of the greatest efforts, whether 
of imagination or of profound philosophical reasoning. In Ame- 
rican democracy, all these elements are combined ; and America 
has already given ample proof to the world that it possesses men 
of intellect and genius of sufficient cultivation to be equal to the 
highest speculations of the human mind. 

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

This department holds an important rank in the administrative 
and social organization of the Americans, for by this medium 
intellectual life is spread throughout the whole nation. It is so 
administered as to pay its own expenses. 

There are now, in the United States, fifteen thousand post 
offices. 

The distance traveled by mails is about 85,560,000 miles. 

The Americans have adopted a uniform postage on letters of 
five cents for any distance less than 300 miles, and ten cents for 
all distances beyond, 
29 



450 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



AGRICULTURE. 



The Americans principally agriculturists — Admirable quality of the soil of the 
United States — The American character favorable to the development of agricul- 
ture — Dangers which beset their speculative character. 

Agricultural industry served as the starting-point of the Anaeri- 
can nation, and now constitutes the principal source of its wealth; 
for, by the immense resources of their fertile territory, the people 
of the United States give to the world the most ample guarantees 
of their present and future prosperity, and of their happy condi- 
tion as a civilized people. To their Anglo-Saxon origin they owe 
the qualities which, to an agriculturist, are indispensable — im- 
perturbable coolness, a rare spirit of perseverance, and, above 
all, that aptitude for labor characteristic of the soldiers of Crom- 
well. The obligation to establish their liberty, and to secure their 
independence of the mother country, whence they had volun- 
tarily exiled themselves, constrained them to seek that support 
from the earth which could be obtained only by severe labor. In 
fine, the fortunate position of the new continent they came to 
inhabit, which, by its varied climate and fertile soil, gave the 
assurance of unbounded resources, promised a future which could 
be realized only by means of patient industry. 

The natural resources of a country consist in the fertility of its 
soil, the character of its climate, the distribution of its water- 
courses, as well for natural navigation as for the creation of water- 
powers, and its proximity to markets. North America is abun- 
dantly endowed with all these natural advantages. Its soil in 
general, but especially in the vast regions watered by the Missis- 
sippi, is eminently fertile, and its climate is of the most varied 
character. Its great rivers secure easy and extensive intercom- 
munication. At all points, thousands of little streams, fed by 
inexhaustible springs, create water-powers adapted to every 



AMERICANS ADAPTED FOR AGRICULTURE. 451 

necessity; and the presence of two seas, from the Bay of Fundy 
to the Sabine River in the Gulf of Mexico, bathing the coasts of 
the United States for an extent of more than three thousand miles, 
presents facilities of exchange with other parts of the world which, 
of late years, steam has drawn in closer contiguity to the pro- 
ducers. 

But that which gives most value to all these physical elements 
is, undoubtedly, the character of the population, essentially agri- 
cultural and industrial. 

Thus, intelligence, activity, perseverance, religious sentiment, 
education, and social and political freedom — in fact, everything 
tends to elevate the American nation to the highest degree of 
prosperity. 

The moral and intellectual character of a people directly con- 
tributes to its progress, in a national point of view, in the great 
work of human civilization. Thus, for example, the guarantees 
of justice, without which no society can exist, consist not so much 
in the laws themselves as in the power which creates them. 
Apart from the support this power is at all times adapted to render 
them, they would be wholly inoperative. Laws are nothing, they 
can have no force, except with the co-operation of the people. Of 
what avail would be the best laws apart from a vigorous determi- 
nation on the part of the people to obey them, and to see them 
enforced? In general, the want of society is not so much good 
laws as the practical observance of those it possesses, since the 
people seldom have the character, the nerve, and the zeal which 
prompt those who are charged with the execution of the laws to 
live in obedience to them. 

This peculiar trait forms, in my opinion, the national spirit of a 
people. When the will of a people is not thus peremptorily ex- 
pressed, it is difficult to secure the observance of the laws; for the 
spirit of which we speak may with truth be regarded as the key of 
public liberty. Now, this trait lies essentirdly at the foundation 
of the American character; and it is certainly the most important 
element of the great social problem presented to the world of a 
people numbering nearly twenty-one million souls exhibiting 
capacity for self-government! 

Another trait of character deserves attention. The American 
has not only taken care that individual freedom and the security 
of property are accurately recognized bylaw, but he is ever ready 



452 AMERICAN POWER. 

energetically to enforce respect for them — a trait due as well to 
the spirit of jealousy created by the sentiment of liberty, as to the 
degree of consideration each order of the State knows so well 
how to maintain. 

Moreover, it is evident that what is called political liberty, or 
the right of each individual to act according to his station, whether 
in a private or public capacity, cannot exist unless it is based on 
the same principle ; for the property of an individual may be pro- 
tected, and his personal liberty secured, by the ordinary forms of a 
civil process ; but the sacred rights of the human mind can be 
defended only by its own efforts. 

The Americans have recognized this principle as the funda- 
mental basis of their society. Its practical operation until the 
present time has been attended with a degree of success that places 
their social organization incomparably beyond that of the most 
enlightened nations of modern times. 

With this energy of character, with these principles of liberty 
and individual security, is it surprising that the American people, 
with the object of ultimately securing a marked preponderance 
in every other industrial pursuit, have so highly developed their 
agricultural interest? Undoubtedly not. In a country where 
every one enjoys in security the fruits of his labor, with the pros- 
pect of independence and happiness always before his eyes, it 
is natural that the American should direct all his intelligence and 
all his talents towards the accomplishment of an object which 
perseverance will enable him to attain. 

One thing alone has excited our astonishment, in relation to 
which we cannot withhold the expression of our opinion. We are 
surprised that, amid so many auspicious conditions which Pro- 
vidence seems to have accumulated at pleasure on this favored 
portion of the globe, the Americans should not have checked the 
unmeasured development of their speculating tendencies. But 
societies, like the individuals who compose it, have their weak 
point; and why should not American society, like all others, exhi- 
bit the seal of its original vice ? 

Does not every people that assumes wealth as the standard of 
good or evil present to the world the strongest proof of its demo- 
ralization, inasmuch as, to secure wealth, it is blindly led, as it 
were, despite of itself, into all manner of speculation ? Nothing 
can prevent such a people from ultimately becoming enslaved, 



COMMERCE. 453 

whatever be the laws under which it may live; for as, in a de- 
mocracy, the people constitute the legitimate sovereign, the power 
they are able to exercise may, like that of any other government, 
become downright tyranny ! 

Let the Americans, then, be on their guard ! let them pause, 
while it is yet time, before the breach their cupidity has opened 
around them! Let them contemplate, with religious admiration 
and gratitude, the immense resources of their continent — resources 
placed at their disposal with the design that millions should live 
happy and free '. — and, I doubt not, they will soon acknowledge 
that in the culture of the soil resides the primary source of that 
happiness and virtue which can alone secure the durability of 
nations! 

Let us also hope, despite the late financial calamities which 
gave so rude a shock to the social edifice of America, that the 
beautiful primitive institutions of this great country will always 
be duly venerated, and remain sufficiently vigorous to lead to the 
appreciation of this great truth — that societies can maintain them- 
selves only by honest labor, and by the vigorous observance of 
their engagements! 

The guarantees of property in America consist, as I have already 
said, in the fertility of its soil, and in the nature of its agricultural 
productions, of which the most important, cotton, sugar, rice, and 
grain, are essential to the rest of the world. 



CHAPTEIt XIX. 



COMMERCE. 



With llie American, the genius for business allied to an ambitious character — The 
American peculiarly a business man^His attention absorbed in his jjersonal 
welfare — Cljaracter of American merchants — Influence of democracy — Commu- 
nity of national interest among the American people. 

When w^e seek to explain what, under the powerful stimulus 
of civilization, are the instincts proper to man, we find, prominent 
above everything else, an indisposition to repose. A character- 
istic among his estimable qualities is a spirit of independence, 



454 AMERICAN POWER. 

which constitutes an active power of his nature. Those features 
of his character which excite our commendation are the result of 
effort. If his errors and crimes often proceed from an abuse of his 
activity, his virtue and happiness are not the less the result of 
the useful employment of his mind. Hence, so long as man is 
active, he retains the regard of his fellow-citizens ; but if he ceases 
to exert himself, he immediately sinks in the esteem of others ; and 
a virtual extinction becomes the sequence of prolonged inactivity. 

Activity is, therefore, the fundamental law of human nature. 
Everything has been arranged in a remarkable manner by a just 
and benevolent Providence to fulfil this essential condition of our 
being. But we are ever liable to be carried away into one of two 
extremes — an agitation too excessive, or a repose of too long con- 
tinuance. To decide what mean position best answers one's 
interests is often a very embarrassing question. Nevertheless, we 
may safely acknowledge, as a general principle, that whatever 
the resources of man, his social position, as well as his nature, re- 
quires that he should be employed — his happiness, that he should 
be just ! 

If such be the character of man in general, it seems to me to 
be peculiarly the distinctive trait of the Anglo-American race. 

The founders of New England were not only fanatical secta- 
rians and austere Puritans in their religious and political prin- 
ciples — they were also a very active, very laborious, and exceed- 
ingly energetic class of men. 

The minds of those who planted the first English colonies of 
the north were constantly directed to two things: to be Christians 
agreeably to their conscience ; and to live independent by means 
of their labor. They soon found themselves surrounded by 
difficulties of all kinds, with a wide field for the display of their 
rare activity and energy. They were obliged to provide means 
for their physical support, while protecting themselves from the 
attacks. of the natives. 

Agriculture, the fur trade with the Indians, and the fisheries, 
constituted their first industry. At a later period, they were 
enabled to exchange the surplus produce of their soil for that 
of the West Indies, or for other commodities of which the 
mother country had not reserved the monopoly. Thus, for the 
first time, commercial became allied to the industrial tendencies 
of the inhabitants. In proportion to the development of the pro- 



COMMERCIAL TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICANS. 455 

ductive character of the colonists, the former assumed a wider 
range. Soon, the Anglo-Saxon, finding a field more vast, less 
restricted, and more in harmony with his peculiar instincts, devoted 
his attention to commerce, if not exclusively, at least with the 
greater pleasure, by reason of the prospect it afforded for the 
realization of heavy profits. 

At that time, the Anglo-American population scarcely occupied 
any territory beyond the seaboard of New England and Southern 
Virginia. Therefore, it is not surprising that so advantageous a 
position should have directed the attention of the early colonists 
towards commercial pursuits. The usages, the habits, the spirit, 
and, as it were, the manners peculiar to a commercial life were 
soon adopted by society, and at the present time- characterize the 
whole nation. 

It seems, in fact, that, with the American, the genius for busi- 
ness is constantly invigorated by enterprise, and is under the 
influence of the ambition by which he appears to be incessantly 
animated. But other moral and physical causes have also con- 
tributed to make the American speculative. Placed far from, or 
rather beyond, the vortex of the moral influences which disturb, 
trammel, and more frequently modify, on the Old Continent, the 
useful application of human intelligence, his mind has never for 
an instant been turned from the pursuit of his material interests. 
His ardor has been nourished by the immense territory he in- 
habits, by its climate, its varied productions, and its vast girdle 
of sea frontier, so favorable to the means of exchange ; by the 
necessity of finding a market for the various products of his in- 
dustry ; but, above all, by the facilities and advantages secured 
to him by education and by the diffusion of knowledge among all 
ranks of society. In short, free institutions, which afTord to all 
alike the means of success, have stamped on the American 
physiognomy a speculative activity far more vivid than that 
imprinted on the physiognomy of Europeans. 

But from the general character of the nation, we must not draw 
the inference that every American is a merchant, or that the 
tastes and habits which arise from the employment of equal 
rights naturally lead men to commerce and manufactures. This 
assertion cannot be taken in a positive sense. The American is 
undoubtedly peculiarly a man of business, a man endowed with 
that aptitude which enables him to calculate all the chances of a 



456 AMERICAN POWER. 

commercial operation ; but this aptitude, this disposition, he 
exhibits in every occupation of life, in commerce equally with 
manufactures, in agriculture equally with jurisprudence ; in 
everything, in fact, which he pursues as a vocation. 

The American feels the constant necessity of laboring for his 
personal advancement. This is a law of his nature, which he has- 
been careful to place in harmony with other laws he has adopted 
for his own guidance. But no one vocation receives exclusive 
attention. In this, the American, like the rest of mankind, is 
obedient to the sentiment of individuality. 

Democracy, it is true, multiplies the number of working men 
by augmenting competition, and rendering it the same for every 
one. But it do'es not incline men to one kind of labor more 
than to another. It does not induce them to desert agriculture for 
commerce and manufactures. It produces in the United States 
an effect directly the reverse. The agriculturist does not aban- 
don his fields and his plough, and embark in a hazardous or 
lucrative profession. But the resident of cities, the merchant, 
the artisan, the manufacturer, fatigued with an existence subject 
to so many casualties, becomes an agriculturist, because in this 
pursuit man eventually finds independence, abundance, and hap- 
piness! 

Are figures required to establish this assertion ? If so, we may 
state that, in 1840, the agricultural population of the United States 
amounted to 3,717,756 ; and that devoted to manufactures to 
1,013,415 ; that is to say, for one person engaged in mechanical 
pursuits, 3.75 agriculturists. The commercial population amount- 
ed only to 117,575; a proportion of one merchant to one hundred 
and forty-six agriculturists. 

In New England, the agriculturists exceed those engaged in: 
industrial or other pursuits thirty-three per cent. 

In New York, the proportion of agriculturists is two, in Ohio 
three, in Illinois five and a half, in Indiana five and a half, and 
in Michigan six and a half, for every person engaged in an indus- 
trial pursuit. 

The population engaged in commerce is comparatively more 
numerous in Louisiana than in any other State of the Union ; next 
in order come Wisconsin and Rhode Island. The proportion is 
least in the State of Arkansas ; afterwards in North CaroHnaj 
Tennessee, and South Carolina. 



RELATIONS OF AGRICULTURE TO COMMERCE. 457 

The American merchant is enlightened and enterprising. He 
has comprehensive views and fixed principles, which at once ren- 
der him an able tradesman and a bold speculator. He solicits 
no assistance from the government; but he knows he can depend 
upon its protection wherever his enterprising genius may direct 
hira. Hence, he is not less devoted to the institutions of his 
country, the advantages of which he constantly appreciates, than 
the agriculturist, who supplies him with the means of fostering his 
commerce. 

The fact is that, between these two classes, there is a closer 
approximation than might at first be supposed. This circum- 
stance is easily explained. Both are rich and powerful only 
through their harmony of action; only through the administrative 
union which everywhere extends to them its protection. 

We can then truly say that the American Uiiion becomes, in 
fact, a nation equally rich and powerful, at home and abroad, 
through i(s agriculturists and tradesmen. 

The object of commerce is to make men rich ; therefore, the 
greater the profits they realize the greater the augmentation of 
the wealth of the country ; for, if it be true that individual hap- 
piness is the principal object of society, it is no less true that, in 
a free country, the general welfare should form the principal 
object of individuals. How, in fact, can a community be con- 
sidered happy, unless the individuals who compose it are happy? 
Now, in the United States, the interests of society and those of 
individuals are harmonized by the excellent institutions of the 
country. There, society receives the consideration of each indi- 
vidual ; but the latter receives, as an equivalent, that consider- 
ation which at bottom constitutes the greatest portion of the hap- 
piness he can enjoy. The greatest benefit communities can 
confer on individuals is to secure the attachment of one to another, 
and the interchange of good feeling and kindly offices. In a 
society thus organized, internal tranquillity is insured rather 
through the ascendency of these feelings than through the inter- 
position of laws. Thus is a people made happy. 

This is what democracy has accomplished in the United States. 
Under its protection, all citizens are equally happy, because it 
affords to all the means of developing their intelligence, capacity, 
and noblest qualities. To this state of things the division of 



458 AMERICAN POWER. 

society into various independent States, as recognized by the 
American Constitution, is exceedingly favorable ; for, through the 
emulation it excites, it contributes to the maintenance of virtue, 
to the useful employment of one's faculties, and to a just apprecia- 
tion of the merit of the business into which every one enters on 
a footing of equality, though with diverse interests. 

Such are the advantages of practical liberty, resulting from a 
government of laws which are supported and administered by 
those who made them, that is to say, the people. In this case, 
laws have a direct tendency to uphold liberty, since they espe- 
cially depend on the influence of those citizens who, desiring to 
be free, have dictated the conditions on which their relations, 
either to the State or to ihe'it fellow-citizens, shall depend. The 
observance of these conditions, once determined by law, can be 
secured only by the greatest vigilance and energy ; for vigilance 
and firmness of purpose give to national power its most indispens- 
able virtue, which is dependent, in equal degree, on the capacity 
and vigor with which affairs of state are conducted. 

These dominant traits in the national character of the Ameri- 
cans contribute in a great degree to the maintenance of their 
laws, and to the prosperity of their country. 

I think 1 have sufficiently proved that it is not democracy alone 
that has produced the commercial development of the American 
people. This result is also attributable in an equal degree to the 
active and enterprising genius of the people, to the innumerable 
advantages of a rich and immense territory, and to the extent of 
the American coast. 

Nowhere throughout the vast territory of the United States does 
there exist a line of custom-houses. The products of one State 
can pass into another without prohibition or protective tariffs. 

This is one of the primary causes of the wealth and prosperity 
of this great republic, and of the stability of its institutions. A 
common nationality protects all the interests of the country. 

Let no one seek to establish the existence of different interests 
between the various sections of this country; let no one assume 
that the interests of the North are not in harmony with those of 
the South ; and that laws protecting the one are useless to the 
other. These arguments are unfounded, and are urged only by 
the enemies of democracy, whose jealousy is excited at its secure 
establishment in the United States. 



NANTUCKET. 459 

True, there is no community of national origin among the 
Americans 4 but we find among them a community of national 
interests which at least insures their prosperity and their power. 

NANTUCKET. 

In concluding this chapter, I cannot resist the desire to say a 
few words relative to the inhabitants of an island, within the juris- 
diction of Massachusetts, which I had the good fortune to visit in 
1826. This is perhaps the only people in the United States that 
impresses upon the traveler an idea of the character, the habits, 
and the primitive manners of that race of courageous men who 
came, in 1620, at the peril of their lives, in search of liberty on 
the shores of New England. 

The Island of Nantucket, to the south of Cape Cod, has a 
superficies scarcely equal to ten square miles. It is an arid sand 
bank, that has never afforded to the navigator any indications of 
natural vegetation. It is an alluvium formed, near the cape or 
promontory in front of the south-eastern part of the coast of Massa- 
chusetts, by the tempests which stir the ocean to its inriiost 
depths. 

Despite these disadvantages, the people who settled Nantucket 
regarded its position favorable for fishing ; and this has ever been 
the characteristic pursuit of its inhabitants. The early settlers 
protected themselves against the inclemencies of the weather in 
the hulls of their vessels, which served as a shelter equally against 
movable sands, and the waves that frequently covered the island 
with briny water. 

This island is now inhabited by a very wealthy and' industrious 
population, engaged either in the coasting trade or in the fisheries. 
Besides the requisite number of seamen and officers for its own 
trade, it furnishes a considerable surplus for the equipment of 
vessels belonging to other portions of the Union. 

The spirit of enterprise which characterizes the people of Nan- 
tucket is unparalleled. Their ingenuity and resources have become 
proverbial. They are brave, robust, temperate in their habits, 
and extremely frugal. Their physical constitution is remarkable 
for its strength and suppleness. 

When I visited this island, it w^as the residence of a numerous 
and very intelligent population, possessing all the resources and 
comforts of a polished society. Industry, the arts, and good taste 



460 AMERICAN POWER. 

have triumphed over all obstacles, and rendered Nantucket re- 
markable for its beauty and its refined comforts. 

We there see beautifully cultivated gardens, rich in vegetables 
and flowers of the most varied kind, which separate, in the happiest 
manner, charming dwellings, erected here and there, without re- 
gularity and order, but presenting a picture highly agreeable to the 
eye of the stranger. One is ever certain of being received with the 
most generous hospitality by the inhabitants of this fortunate island 
— an island where watchmen, and police, and bolts are not required 
for individual security. 

In a word, the industrious population of the Island of Nantucket 
presents in miniature the Dutch nation of the seventeenth century. 

Why have such examples of happiness, tranquillity, and pros- 
perity become so rare, at the present time, in every portion of the 
globe .'' 



CHAPTER XX 



MANUFACTURES. 



England strives to prevent the introduction of manufactures into the colonies of 
Nevv England — Their progress despite opposition — Manufacture of hats — Linon 
and woolen fabrics — Forges — Massachusetts legislates in favor of manufactures — 
Introduction of the first cotton-spinning machine — Arrival of celebrated manu- 
facturers from England and France — Samuel Slaters — Dupont de Nemours — Law 
proposed by Alexander Hamilton in favor of manufactures adopted by Con- 
gress in 1789 — Fresh impulse given to manufactures by the War of 1812 — Pro- 
tective system adopted by Congress and maintained until 1832 — Introduction of 
the compromise law^ — Commercial crisis — Deficit in the revenues of the United 
States — New tariff — Present importance of manufactures. 

During the period of the colonial system, the Americans turned 
their attention exclusively to agriculture. The mother country, 
interested in this state of things, sought by every available means 
to secure its continuance as long as possible. But the native 
intelligence and rare activity of the people overcame all obstacles. 
An industrial tendency soon became manifest among all classes 
of the colonists. 

The metropolis, jealous of preserving its American colonies as 
a market for the products of its manufacture, became alarmed at 



COLONIAL MANUFACTURES. 461 

these indications, which assumed every day a more imposing 
aspect, and sought at once to repress them by administrative 
measures. 

Consequently, in 1699, the British Parliament issued a decree 
prohibiting the introduction of any American manufactures into 
Great Britain, or into any of its dependencies. 

In 1710, it was solemnly declared, in the English Parliament, 
that the introduction of the various branches of manufacture into 
the colonies could have no other effect than to render them inde- 
pendent of the mother country; that it was necessary to crush this 
rebellious tendency by vigorous measures. 

The genius of the people was proof even against these hin- 
drances, and their progress was sufficiently decisive. As far 
back as 1731, for example, fabrics began to be manufactured in 
Massachusetts. Among other indications of progress, a paper-mill 
was in operation on quite an extensive scale. 

In Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and Pennsylvania, 
the colonists industriously engaged in the manufacture of woolens, 
linens, and iron for their own consumption. 

From hemp and flax, already cultivated on a large scale in 
almost all of the colonies, coarse goods and pack-cloth were manu- 
factured, which were preferred to those imported from Europe, not- 
withstanding the circumstance that labor in the colonies was 
twenty per cent, higher than in England, and the fact that these 
articles could be imported fifty per cent, below the prices of the 
fabrics manufactured in America. 

At this period. New Hampshire had already acquired some ce- 
lebrity on account of its fisheries, and the quantity of its lumber. 

Among the manufactures carried on most extensively was that of 
hats, because of the advantages the colonists possessed of procur- 
. ing, at the lowest prices, through their fur trade with the natives, 
beaver skins of the best quality. When this business had acquired 
considerable importance, Parliament, in a spirit of petty jealousy, 
attempted to check the enterprise by the passage of a law pro- 
hibiting the introduction of American hats into any part of Great 
Britain. 

The Americans had also established a number of tanneries, and 
directed their attention to the preparation of leather, a business 
found to be profitable from a very early period. 

In the American colonies, there were also nineteen forges and 



462 AMERICAN POWER. 

five furnaces, the product of which amounted to about the twen- 
tieth part of the material required for the necessities of the inha- 
bitants. 

Such was the condition of the colonies relative to manufac- 
tures prior to the Revolution. As unimportant as their progress 
may appear, the result still exhibits the aptitude of the Americans 
for these departments of labor. It proves, besides, that, without 
assistance, without protection, and despite the trammels of legis- 
lation, certain branches of industry may be developed in a country 
where natural conditions alone, such as the soil, the climate, and 
the habits and character of the people, are favorable to their ex- 
istence. 

But we must also recollect that, at the period referred to, the 
people of these colonies w^ere of pure and severe morals, of simple 
and frugal habits, andthat they were especially adverse to osten- 
tation. They were all dressed in fabrics wrought either by their 
wives or by members of their families. At that time, no one would 
have dared to attract notice by luxurious display. The relations 
of good neighborhood were then cultivated perhaps in a greater 
degree than at the present time, and were maintained over a wider 
space of country. To preserve them in their integrity, the sole 
dependence of the colonist was his nag, on which he rode to 
church on Sunday, with his wife mounted behind him — a peculi- 
arity still observable in the interior of the country. In short, 
gorgeous equipages and their insolent attendants had then no 
existence. 

In 1744, we observe, on the part of the colonial government of 
Massachusetts, the first indications of interest relative to manu- 
factures. At this period, the provincial congress called public 
attention to the important relations of agriculture and manufac- 
tures to the economy and welfare of society. In the course of 
that year, general measures for the defence and security of the 
country were adopted, with the avowed object of maintaining 
their independence, thus furnishing a brilliant example of the 
noble use to which so youthful a people could apply their demo- 
cracy. It was also recommended that the inhabitants should form 
associations, with the object of prosecuting successfully several 
branches of industry beyond the range of the ability of single indi- 
viduals. Citizens w'ere at the same time enjoined to use domestic 
instead of imported articles. 



EARLY FACTORIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 463 

The first act of the Federal Government relative to the encou- 
ragement of manufactures was not passed till 1789, at the close of 
the War of the Revolution. 

In 1791, Alexander Hamilton made his celebrated report on 
this subject, and obtained the honorable title of father of the 
American System. Since that time, an equally distinguished pa- 
triot of our own day, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, has become its 
most zealous champion. 

The first cotton-spinning machine introduced into this country 
was established at East Bridgewater, in Massachusetts, in 1786. 
Such was the public interest manifested on the occasion that the 
general court voted two hundred dollars as a reward to its con- 
structor. The following year, a Mr. Orr received a gratuity of 
twenty dollars, to give publicity to all his practical knowledge of 
the invention. • , 

In 1787, the proprietors of the cotton factories at Beverly, Mas- 
sachusetts, made some attempts to substitute mechanical for manual 
labor, in imitation of the practice in Europe. They petitioned 
the General Court to promote their object, and obtained authority 
to raise five thousand dollars by lottery. 

The third attempt to spin cotton by machinery was made 
in 1788, at Providence, Rhode Island. In the same year, a cot- 
ton factory was erected in Philadelphia. The undertaking was 
completely successful. From that period, an association was 
organized in Pennsylvania for the encouragement of manufac- 
tures. 

The attempts made in New York and Connecticut were less 
fortunate; not because the inhabitants lacked perseverance or 
intelligence, but because the machines they imported were im- 
perfect. 

In 1790, one of the most distinguished mechanics of England, 
Samuel Slaters, emigrated to America. This celebrated manu- 
facturer was associated with the renowned Sir Richard Arkwrisht, 
the inventor of the cotton-jenny, which bore his name. He erected 
a spinning-rnill at Pawtucket, which is to this day one of the most 
celebrated establishments in the United States. 

In 1793, associating himself with Messrs. Brown and Almy, 
Slaters erected another cotton factory, which was highly suc- 
cessful. 

About the same period, other parts of Europe furnished America 



464 AMERICAN POWER. 

with noble competitors in the importation of the industrial arts. 
Among these, I must particularly distinguish the brothers Dupont, 
sons of M. Dupont de Nemours, the ideologist. This intelligent 
family settled on the Brandywine, in the State of Delaware, and 
there erected establishments which gave a powerful impulse to 
manufactures in that part of the Union, and which, in critical 
circumstances, rendered important service to the United States. 
One of the brothers established powder-mills, the reputation of 
which is too well known in Europe to require comment. The 
other brother erected a cloth factory on the opposite side of the 
Brandywine, which has at all times served to clothe the Ame- 
rican army. 

The law proposed by Hamilton, and adopted by the Congress 
of 1789, encouraged the manufacturing spirit of the Americans, 
which the renewed commercial relations with England, at the close 
of the War of Independence, had somewhat checked. 

The war of 1812, the second contest between the United 
States and England, gave a fresh impulse to manufactures, a 
branch of industry already enriched by the discoveries of Ark- 
wright, Hargrave, and James Watt, and of two Americans, whose 
names are equally cherished, Wliitney and Fulton. Whitney is 
the inventor of a machine which separates the cotton from the 
seed. 

Congress, to meet the expenses of the war, adopted a new 
tariff', doubling the duties on all foreign merchandize. 

But in 1815, American manufactures experienced another 
check, through the introduction of English goods. Nevertheless, 
the public spirit of the Americans had been awakened to the 
importance of preserving and perfecting them. A tariff was 
adopted by Congress, designed principally to protect cotton and 
woolen fabrics, so essentially connected with the prosperity of the 
country. 

By this tariff", a duty of twenty-five per cent, ad valorem was 
imposed on all foreign manufactured woolen goods, to continue 
in operation from June, 1816, to June, 1819, after which period 
it was to be reduced to twenty per cent. 

By the same tariff", all manufactured cotton goods, whose origi- 
nal value was below twenty-five cents a yard, were to pay the 
same duty as though valued at twenty-five cents. This clause 
was introduced with the object of including in the tarifT all the 



PROTECTIVE SYSTE:\r. 465 

common articles imported from India, as well as to protect the 
manufactures of the country, which had already become so 
developed as to compete against them. A duty of thirty per 
cent, was also imposed on many other articles, such as hats, 
furniture, carriages, leather, and paper, the manufacture of which 
had already acquired great importance in the United States. 

The cultivation of native sugar was also promoted by a protect- 
ive tariff. 

In 1818, many of these duties were augmented. But in 1824, 
the duties on cotton and woolen fabrics exported from England 
were subjected to revision. A reduction consequently took place, 
with the object of counteracting the effect of the American 
tariff 

In consequence of these dispositions on the part of the British 
government, the American manufacturers petitioned Congress for 
assistance. The result of this appeal was the celebrated tariff 
of 1828. By this tariff, a duty of from forty-five to fifty per 
cent, ad valorem was imposed on all woolen manufactured goods. 
The duty on all other articles was proportionally augmented. 

Congress continued this protective system until 1831, when, 
in consequence of the extinction of the public debt, a proposi- 
tion was again made to revise the tariff. 

Under these circumstances, public opinion w'as invoked by the 
usual means. Conventions favorable and adverse to free trade 
met at Philadelphia. At the meeting of the partisans of free 
trade, it was proposed to reduce the tariff as much as possible. 
At the convention of those favorable to the continuance of the 
protective system, it was proposed to reduce the duties on those 
articles alone which could not in any respect influence the pro- 
gress of American manufactures, or the development of home 
products. 

In 1832, Congress adopted a new tariff, in entire conformity 
with the views of the majority; that is to say, a tariff protecting 
only in a partial degree the interests of the manufacturers and 
producers. By this tariff, the duties on French wines were re- 
duced. 

The year 1833 was one of mournful celebrity. Certain mem- 
bers of the body politic of South Carolina expressed opinions 
relative to free trade which appeared to threaten the dissolution 
of the Union. This conduct placed South Carolina — for a very 
30 



460 AMERICAN POWER. 

short time, it is true — in open rebellion against the laws of the 
Union. 

The energy of President Jackson, to whom \Yas confided the 
maintenance of the Constitution — and especially the strength of 
public opinion — soon restored the authority of the laws of the 
Union. 

Nevertheless, these new claims, occasioned by the law of 

1832, induced Congress to adopt, even prior to the period at 
which it could take effect, a law that has received the name of 
the Compromise Act. This measure, proposed by Henry Clay, of 
Kentucky, was of essential service to the country, for it checked 
at once the imprudent violence of one of the most influential of 
the Southern States. 

This amendment was adopted as a law" during the winter of 

1833, and was to remain in force until June, 1842. It provided 
that all duties above twenty per cent, ad valorem should, until 
June, 1842, be reduced annually to tvi-enty per cent. A number 
of articles, whose consumption was considerable, were to be ad- 
mitted free. Among these, were foreign silks. It also proposed 
to limit the new tariff to be adopted subsequent to that epoch to 
tvvrenfy per cent, on the value of importations; and also prescribed 
that no increase of duties should take place prior to June 30, 1842, 

But the decennial period from 1832 to 1842 was to become 
only too celebrated by the vicissitudes of the American financial 
system — at one time working so prosperously as to permit the 
entire payment of the national debt, and the distribution of the 
proceeds of the sale of the public lands among the States ; at 
another time so utterly prostrated as to oblige the General 
(government to provide by extraordinary measures the means of 
paying its own expenses. 

This last commercial crisis commenced in 1837, a short time 
after the expiration of the charter of the United States Bank, 
which had, until that time, served to moderate the licentiousness 
of the local banks, and the private speculations which they 
encouraged.* Since that period, and for the first time, perhaps, 
since the existence of the American Union, democratic institu- 

* Nevertheless, ^ve must here observe that the United States Bank vras, 
in a measure, the first to encourage tlie exaggerated views of speculators ; 
for its discounts, several years before the expiration of its charter as a 
national bank, from 1830 to 1833, were from forty to sixty millions, whilst 



FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL CRISIS. 4G7 

tions seem to have succumbed to the difficulties that agitated the 
nation. Among its representatives, we seek in vain for that 
unity of action, and that disinterestedness so essential to the dis- 
covery of an adequate remedy for the injury inflicted on Am.eri- 
can society — an unbounded love of speculation, and luxury, its 
unfailing accompaniment, which ever impoverishes a nation that 
abandons itself to its enervating influences. ^ 

This financial and commercial crisis has unfortunately been 
exceedingly protracted. It has sown the seeds of corruption 
deeply throughout American society. In my opinion, this evil is 
far greater than that resulting from, the material losses its com- 
merce has experienced ; for these are only transitory. We can 
always recover from financial embarrassments. But when the 
moral qualities of a people are tainted, a healthful reaction is of 
far slower operation. Time is sufficient to overcome the first. 
But the conditions of cure in the latter case are a sincere return 
to old traditions, to the principles of honorable simplicit}^ which 
guided the men of the early period of American history-:— men 
who were content to he freemen, and not the rivals of the vicious 
aristocracy of ancient monarchies ! 

The Americans ought to have profited by so severe a lesson, 
and I sincerely hope that they may learn to live with more 
simplicity, more in conformity with the sound precepts of the 
fathers of their glorious Revolution. 

The period fixed for the expiration of the tariff of 1833 arrived, 
and the discussions of Congress led to no result. During this 
period, the General Government, to meet its expenses, was obliged 
to issue treasury bonds, which, by virtue of the financial con- 
dition of the country, were depreciated belov/ their real value. 
Thus, during profound peace, in the midst of all the elements 
of material prosperity to which nothing could be compared, we 
see the government of the United States reduced to the necessity 
of issuing paper w'hich could scarcely be negotiated at par ! 

Does not such a state of things indicate some defect in the 
financial constitution of this powerful republic ? "When a direct 

they did not exceed three million dollars during the period -which elapsed 
between 1821 and 1830. 

These facilities for discounting were unfortunately but too closely imi- 
tated by all the local banks until the great day of the general explosion 
of the public credit of the United States. 



468 AMERICAN POWER. 

tax, not exceeding two additional mills, would suffice to ensure 
the General Government all the resources required to meet its 
current expenses, ought not one to deplore the circumstance that 
recourse cannot be had to this means, rendered unpopular by 
the improvidence of President Monroe's administration, which, to 
court popular favor, committed the great error of abrogating the 
law that had created a war tax ? 

Finally, after prolonged parliamentary discussion, and much 
reciprocal concession, the House of Representatives has just 
adopted a new tariff bill,* which is of a prohibitory character, 
and therefore inconsistent with those just principles of free trade 
we should desire to see prevail, because of the close relation tKey 
bear to the interest of the people. This new tariff appears to 
me to be an ephemeral measure, conceived in the hope that it 
will suffice for the urgent expenses of the government ; but it is 
doubtful whether this object will be attained. It will be favorable 
to the manufacturing interest, but adverse to all the other interests 
of the nation. Therefore, it appears probable that it will soon be 
modified. 

The new tariff imposes a duty of thirty per cent, on the value 
of importations. This must be paid in specie within sixty days ; 
otherwise, the goods are to be sold on account. 

An additional duty of ten per cent, is imposed upon all import- 
ations made in vessels other than those of the United States. 

The adoption of the new tariff took place simultaneously with 
the repeal of the law relative to the distribution of the proceeds 
of the sale of the public lands, which, for the present, are 
included among the resources of the United States. 

I most sincerely wish that this new bill may produce the favor- 
able effect on the finances of the United States so anxiously 
anticipated by the Americans ; but I must confess that my con- 
victions do not accord with their own ; for something more than 
a tariff is at present needed to restore the nation to its normal 
-state — the adoption of a financial measure that will re-establish 
its credit. Now, for the recovery of its credit, so deeply shaken 
and compromised by the shameful acts of late years, I can see 
no other resource, as I have already indicated in my work on 
Democracy, than a national bank at Washington, or some financial 

* The tariff of 1842.— Tr. 



CAPITAL INVESTED IN MANUFACTURES. 469 

institution which, to the advantages of a national bank, with re- 
spect to its influence on local banks, shall unite those of solvency, 
security, and governmental control, in relation to which the United 
States alone can offer the essential guarantees. 

An idea may be formed of the astonishing development of 
manufactures in the United States, under the influence of the 
various tariffs adopted until the present time, by the following 
statistical abstract of the amount of capital invested in them in 
1840. Figures, better than anything that we can add upon tjie 
subject, will clearly demonstrate the progress of the American 
nation in this field of competition, which, at some future day, 
must have consequences so fatal to the peace of the States. 
They will also explain, to a certain extent, the reason of the 
adoption of the new tariff by Congress. 

I'he capital invested in manufactures in 1840, throughout the 
United States, amounted to the enormous sum of 267,726,579 
dollars ; the value of manufactured articles was 444,473,820 
dollars. 

In 1830, scarcely thirty thousand persons were directly engaged 
in manufactures. At present, the number exceeds 500,000, 
whose annual salaries amount to 100,000,000 dollars ; that is to 
say, an average of two hundred dollars a-year to each person. 

The population employed in this branch of industry is, to the 
entire Union, to New England, and to the Middle States, in the 
proportion of one to twelve'. 

In Rhode Island, in which the proportion is greatest, nearly 
four-fifths of the entire male population above twenty years of 
age are engaged in manufactures. Next in the scale of prece- 
dency is Massachusetts ; then Connecticut, New Jersey, and 
New York. 

Among the numerous encouragements which the General Go- 
vernment offers to the activity and industry of the people of the 
United States, we place in the foremost rank, as tending more 
especially to develop their inventive genius and their knowledge 
of improvements, the Patent Office at Washington. 

This establishment, which dates back to the time of President 
Jefferson, contains a great number of models, plans in relief, 
drawings and descriptions of machines, patented either for inven- 
tion, improvement, or for importation. 

The direction of this establishment is under the charfje of a 



470 AMERICAN POWER. 

commissioner of patents, who is enjoined to make annual reports 
on the condition of the agricultural, manufacturing, and metal- 
lurgic interests of the country. 

This report, published by order of the government, presents an 
argumentative analysis of all the patents issued during the year ; 
a complete statistical account of all the crops in the Union ; 
details concerning the agricultural condition of the country ; the 
improvements introduced and proposed by agriculturists ; precise 
information relative to atmospherical variations and phenomena ; 
in short, a report on every subject interesting to the farmer. 

This highly interesting publication will in future serve as a 
precious landmark to economists and scholars, when treating of 
the question of public wealth. We particularly recommend it to 
those who are engaged in these important questions. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

WORKING CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. 

In speaking of the moral and social condition of the w'orking 
classes of the United States, it is necessary, in the first place, to 
notice the peculiar effect of slavery in certain parts of the Union, 
where the productions of the soil are no less peculiar than the man- 
ners and habits of the people. In the States w^here slavery still 
exists, it has impressed its indelible seal on the working classes ; 
it has given the white race a peculiar bearing; and has completely 
changed the relations which ordinarily exist between the master 
and the workman. Even the manner in which the labor itself is 
performed bears its distinctive impress. The labor of the white 
man, which is paid for, is promptly and thoroughly performed. 
The unpaid labor of the slave is executed inefficiently, and at all 
times tardily. 

The Northern and several of the Middle States are at once 
agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial ; these States grow 
wheat and corn. The Middle and Western States are at the 
same time agricultural and manufacturing; they produce tobacco. 



WORKING CLASSES IN THE UKlTED STATES. 471 

and edibles of every description, and raise immense flocks and 
herds. 

The Southern States are almost exclusively agricultural, and 
produce rice, cotton, tobacco, and sugar. 

Such are the varied .sources of wealth that characterize the 
three great territorial divisions of the Union. They indicate, 
according to their character, the intrinsic value of free and slave 
labor, and consequently determine the relative position of the two 
races that inhabit the United States. 

In the first division, slavery has for a long time ceased to exist. 
It never spread extensively in this section of the United States, as 
it was not found to be advantageous. 

In the second division, it is still retained ; but it is gradually 
dying out, for experience proves that it is scarcely profitable 
where grain is cultivated. In the States composing this division, 
it will undoubtedly be soon entirely abolished. 

But in the third division, where slave labor is highly advan- 
tageous, slavery is extensively prevalent. 

The Americans cannot be directly reproached with the intro- 
duction of slavery into the United States. This leprosy was 
imposed upon them through the avarice, cupidity, and jealousy 
of the mother country. The English government, under the 
direct influence of the crown and the Parliament, authorized and 
encouraged the odious traffic with the object of peopling the 
English Colonies of America with slaves.* By this means, it 
sought to check the development of the colonies, which was likely 
to prove prejudicial to the interests of the metropolis; for, at the 
time referred to, the emigrations of white settlers threatened to im- 
poverish the manufacturing industry of England. It thus sought, 
in fine, to keep the colonies in a state of dependence, with respect 
to manufactures, on England, whose merchants have ever aimed 
at monopoly by all the means in their power. 

Five of the Southern States, in which rice, tobacco, indigo, 
and cotton were the principal articles of culture, imported the 
greatest number of slaves. But in New England, and especially 
in Massachusetts, where the necessity of slave labor was not so 

* Dumont, Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, signed at Utrecht, 
1713; and Walsh, "Appeal from the Judgment of Great Britain against 
the United States," second edition. 



472 AMERICAN POWER. 

immediately felt, public opinion was expressed, in the strongest 
manner, against its introduction. Hence but few negroes were 
imported into these colonies. 

The fact is that New England was settled by a class of men 
who held labor in the highest honor ; by men who were them- 
selves the direct builders of the social edifice. With them labor 
was identified with their welfare and their progress; It stimulated 
their activity and their intelligence, and served, in the most 
striking manner, to develop their enterprising genius. 

Among the inhabitants of the first division, each man was ex- 
pected to provide for his own necessities. Comfort was an im- 
mediate object ; and every individual looked forward to ultimate 
independence. A citizen of a free State, and in the enjoyment of 
all the privileges attached to this position, he coveted that condi- 
tion of independence involved in the cherished title of freeholder. 

Consequently, the white laborer of the Northern and Eastern 
States is ever stimulated by the hope of amassing suflScient means 
to purchase land from the government, in the vast territory of the 
west, which he is always sure of obtaining at a very low price. 

The influence which this hope of one day becoming a propri- 
etor exercises on the working-classes of New England — its effect 
on their conduct, their labor, and their personal dignity — can 
scarcely be conceived on this side of the Atlantic. Self-esteem 
is a natural feeling of the human heart; and if it is less strikingly 
exhibited in Europe than America, it is because its 'manifestation 
is not attended with an equal degree of success. In Europe, 
population is condensed within a narrow space ; but in the vast 
territory of the United States there will be an abundance of land 
for centuries to come. Only a small portion of this territory is 
now occupied by civilized man. 

This feeling of personal dignity and independence is character- 
istic of the white laborer of every class; of the mechanic and 
the artisan ; of the hired laborer on the farm ; and of the most 
numerous class of operatives engaged in manufactures ; for, as I 
have already stated, the United States ranks among the manu- 
facturing nations of the world ; and for industry, economy, and the 
quality of its fabrics, it will soon attain a level with the most re- 
nowned among them. But by virtue of the very conditions we 
have indicated, there does not exist, properly so called, a specific 
working class ; that is to say, a class in which the habit of labor 



WORKI]<fG CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. 473 

is transmitted from father to son, from generation to generation, 
with the virtues and the vices peculiar to the operative. 

In New England, four-fifths of the population employed in 
manufactories are young girls, who leave their village homes with 
the object of economizing from their earnings a sum sufficient for 
their settlement as married w^omen ; for in the United States mar- 
riage is the object every young girl seeks to attain. After this 
consummation, she is rarely seen in a factory. She returns to the 
village she left, resumes her domestic duties, and becomes the 
mother of a respectable family 

The majority of those who belong to the working class settle in 
life quite early. A great number of young men marry at the age 
of from twenty to twenty-five ; young women at the age of from 
eighteen to twenty. A union unsanctioned by marriage is for- 
bidden by law, and therefore very rarely seen. 

The fact is that concubinage or celibacy can never become a 
normal condition among the working classes in the United States 
as it is in Europe, since marriage in the former country is not 
attended with additional charges, but is rather a source of wealth 
and comfort. The married working-man, doubling his economy 
and income, soon finds himself in possession of sufficient means 
to allow him the choice of continuing to improve his condition in 
his native place; or, if the country in which he resides does not 
present inducements corresponding to his ambition, of expatriat- 
ing himself towards those regions where his industry finds inex- 
haustible resources, and where his energy is rewarded by ever- 
increasing prosperity. 

The remaining fifth is composed, in great part, of young men 
who are ambitious to learn the manufacturing business, and by this 
means to become overseers, clerks, or agents. This class remain 
somewhat permanently in one position. The other class are en- 
tering and leaving the manufactory incessantly — in one respect a 
great disadvantage to the proprietor. But what he loses in skill 
through the operatives who leave, he gains in the application and 
integrity of those who supply their place. This state of things 
is highly favorable to public morals, for it precludes the existence 
of a class, without character and morals, wholly dependent on the 
factory for its support.' 

Another element peculiar to the manufacturing system of New 
England is this : 'Jlie operatives are lodged and boarded in houses 



474 AMERICAN POWER, 

belonging to the proprietor of the factory, which are rented to 
certain individuals for that specific purpose. The internal ma- 
nagement and the cleanliness of these houses, as well as the diet 
of their inmates, are, in some measure, under the surveillance of 
the proprietor himself. 

Another advantage of the system pursued in these factories is 
that very few children are admitted into them, and none who are 
under twelve years of age. By a law of the State of Massachu- 
setts, the proprietor is forbidden to keep children under fifteen 
years of age employed in the factory for more than nine months 
in the year. The same law compels him to send them to school 
for three months during the year. 

In the factories at Low^ell, where nine thousand operatives are 
employed, there are only one hundred and fifty children under 
fifteen years of age. 

A day's work in these establishments is twelve hours. 

On Sundays, and on several holidays during the year, labor 
ceases in all the manufactories of the United States. 

The operatives are paid at the end of every month. Average 
daily wages of men, exclusive of board, eighty-four cents. Ave- 
rage wages of women per week two dollars and six cents. 

The sanatary condition of these operatives is in general highly 
satisfactory ; rather better than that of persons in ordinary life. 

Their moral and religious condition is excellent ; and this is 
what we should expect to find in a country where society is esta- 
blished on the true principles of Christianity. Thus, in the single 
city of Lowell, the greatest manufacturing town of Massachusetts, 
there are sixteen religious associations, to which belong seven 
thousand members — one-third of the entire population. Connected 
with all these societies are Sunday Schools. In addition to these 
provisions for social improvement, public lectures are delivered in 
libraries established for the benefit of young operatives and ap- 
prentices. In these institutions, it is no uncommon thing to hold 
literary and scientific debates. 

The proprietors of the factories are the principal patrons and 
supporters of these liberal institutions. 

In short, no class of operatives is so well paid, so well fed, and 
so well clothed; and none presents a sanatary and moral condition 
more satisfactory. 

The mechanic is paid at the rate of from one dollar and forty 



WORKING CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. 475 

to two dollars and eighty cents a-day. Average wages one dollar 
and fifty cents. He pays his own board. 

The wages of the common laborer employed on farms, or at 
other work, are from eight to fourteen dollars per month, boarding 
and lodging included. 

These wages fluctuate according to the season, or to the demand 
for labor. But, in general, we may state the mean wages per 
month of the laborer throughout the year to be eleven dollars and 
fifty cents. Mean wages per day sixty cents; but, during har- 
vest, or at seed time, ninety cents per day. Mean price of board 
per week one dollar and fifty cents. 

These statements must not be applied to that condition of things 
which exists on the seaboard, where the laboring class, principally 
composed of emigrants from all parts of the world, is characterized 
by manners and habits imported from Europe. In these cities, 
the aspect of general society, as well as that of the working-classes, 
gives no idea of the fundamental character of American society, 
as it is exhibited in the interior of the country. 

What I have just said of the working-classes in the States in 
which slavery no longer exists must be considered a picture of 
the manners and habits of those who live in towns, villages, and 
country-places, far from daily contact with emigrants from Eu- 
rope, and such as I have seen it in the countries w'atered by the 
Penobscot, the Merrimack, the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Sus-» 
quehannah, the Muskingum, the Scioto, and the Ohio. Every- 
where on the shores of these streams the presence of the laboring 
man was indicated by abundant harvests, and elegant mansions, 
exhibiting the taste, the care, and the prosperity of their indus- 
trious inmates. Everywhere comfort appeared side by side with 
industry ; everywhere did man appear w^ealthy through his labor; 
everywhere, in fine, was the working-man the proprietor of a well- 
cultivated field, and a comfortable habitation, at which it was 
often my fortune to ask and receive hospitality. 

But what especially characterizes the free American working- 
man is the fact that he enjoys the same electoral rights as those who 
employ him. He can present himself at the polls and vote with 
the same degree of influence as those most favored by fortune; 
he sits upon the jury-bench the equal of other members of society, 
and occupies a place among the national militia ; in a word, he is 



476 AMERICAN POWER. 

the free citizen of an independent nation, and enjoys all the ad- 
vantages and prerogatives attached to that title. 

As a member of the working-class, he connects himself with as- 
sociations formed for the purpose of providing for the contingencies 
of his trade, as well as for his professional, moral, and religious 
education. From these he obtains assistance and support in time 
of need, and the knowledge and means required for the development 
of his genius. In fine, the American workman is distinguished 
for his intelligence, his activity, and his rare aptitude for useful 
labor. 

Agreeably to these statements, it will be seen that the free work- 
man is in the enjoyment of all the civil and political rights common 
to American society. A collision between the working class and 
the rest of society is therefore excessively rare. However, I have 
once or twice witnessed the refusal of certain members of this 
class to work for their employers unless their grievances were 
redressed. On the first of the occasions to which lallude, the 
tailors of Philadelphia insisted that women should not be allow^ed 
to make pantaloons, inasmuch as they considered this a specific 
branch of their business, and as other departments of labor were 
open to females. On the other, certain unpaid laborers em- 
ployed in the construction of a railway acted so riotously as even 
to attempt the destruction of the road. 

In the first instance, an amicable arrangement was effected 
between the employers and the journeymen. In the second, 
justice was rendered to the laborers as far as their claims were 
concerned against the contractor of the road, who was a defaulter, 
and had fled ; but justice was also rendered to them in another 
sense, for they were compelled to pay all the damages they had 
occasioned to the property of the company. 

In general, when any disagreement or collision occurs between 
the laborer and the employer, it is compromised and amicably 
settled^ without recourse to law, unless in cases of violation of the 
public peace. 

In the Middle and Western States, where wheat, tobacco, and 
other products are especially cultivated, slave labor has been ob- 
served to be an expensive method of realizing the resources of the 
soil. In these States, therefore, slavery has sensibly diminished. 

Therefore, in grain-growing States, where labor is engrossed 
almost wholly by the white man, slavery will soon cease to be 



WORKING CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. 477 

possible, for it will soon have entirely ceased to be productive. 
It will then be obliged to take refuge in those States where cotton 
and the sugar-cane are the only articles of cultivation. In the 
latter States, the working class is composed almost wholly of ne- 
groes. The few white men who are employed are overseers and 
taskmasters. 

The services of a slave, in these States, are estimated at from 
seventy-five to two hundred dollars a-year, exclusive of necessary 
wearing apparel. 

It is the duty of the master to watch over his health. Hence, 
as a result of this attention, or perhaps through the excellent con- 
stitution with which he is naturally endowed, the black race fur- 
nishes more examples of longevity than the white race. 

Of the entire white population of the United States, num- 
bering 14,189,108 souls, the number of persons whose ages have 
exceeded one hundred years is as follows: Men, 476; women, 
315; total, 791 — that is to say, 0.005 per cent, of the whole popu- 
lation. 

Population of free people of color, 386,245. Number of per- 
sons whose age has exceeded one hundred years as follows : JMen, 
286 ; women, 361 ; total, 647 — that is to say, 0.16 per cent, of the 
total free colored population. 

Number of slaves, 2,487,215. Number who have lived beyond 
the age of one hundred years as follows : Men, 753 ; women, 580 ; 
total, 1,333 — consequently, 0.053 per cent, of the entire slave 
population. 

Of the total colored population, enslaved and free, numbering 
2,873,460 souls, the number of those whose age has exceeded one 
hundred years is 1980 — consequently, 0.07 per cent, of the entire 
population. 

Hence the number of slaves whose age has exceeded one hun- 
dred years is ten times and one-third greater than that of the white 
race. May we not thence conclude that this class of laborers is 
not so unfortunately situated as we might suppose from the rank 
it occupies in American society ? 

For my part, I have traveled over a great portion of the South- 
ern States. In the course of my professional labors, I have resided 
in these States several years. A great number of slaves have 
been under my orders. I have also seen them on the plantations. 



478 AMERICAN POWER. 

I am therefore ready to testify that, as men and laborers, I have 
always found them happy and contented. 

The fact is that, in the slave States, the moral, religious, and 
physical condition of the negro has of late years been considerably 
improved; as kind treatment, and careful attention to his health 
and physical welfare, have been shown to be greatly conducive to 
the interest of his master- 
In the United States, North as well as South, idleness is held in 
contempt. Every man labors with a vigor corresponding to the 
strength of his constitution, and the climate he inhabits. Conse- 
quently, a great number of small freeholders, even in the South, 
Pabor in company with their negroes. Of this fact I have seen 
innumerable examples at Attacapas, on the La Fourche River; 
on the Germans' coast, in Louisiana; as well as in Florida, Vir- 
ginia, Carolina, and Tennessee. Even white landed proprietors, 
in more easy circumstances, pursue agricultural labors on their 
own plantations. An exception to this rule is of very rare oc- 
currence. 

The masters being themselves agriculturists, and personally 
superintending the labors of the negroes, the latter can easily ob- 
tain redress for their grievances. This justice both law and hu- 
manity would compel the master to render to his slaves. In the 
United States, the condition of affairs no longer exists which 
existed during the period of the colonies, when the care, the 
government, and the employment of negroes were confided to 
a despotic overseer, who, rarely having a direct interest in treating 
with humanity the negroes of a plantation which he controlled in 
the name of an absent proprietor, crushed them through cruel 
usage, or by an amount of labor wholly disproportioned to their 
strength. 

Marriage is the ordinary condition of the negro, and though the 
ceremony is rarely celebrated by the minister of religion, it is 
none the less in conformity with the civil law and prescribed 
usage. Examples of concubinage are undoubtedly to be found ; 
but to this licentiousness the feelings of the negro are, in general, 
decidedly averse. Often, too often, in the Southern States, espe- 
cially in Louisiana, the white man makes the negress the oc- 
casional instrument of his pleasures. A new race, of mixed 
blood, has thus been created, which is constantly on the increase. 
Nevertheless, I have always heard the negro express his disgust 



WORKING CLASSES IN THE UNITED STATES. 479 

for this species of alliance, and his sovereign contempt for the race 
to which it has given birth. Hence, I belfeve that, as races, there 
is quite as much antipathy between the negro and the mulatto as 
between the negro and the white man. 

But a remarkable element in the social condition of the slaves 
is the fact that the master, while sharing the toils of his negroes, 
enters into relations highly favorable to them. The slave soon 
considers himself a member of his master's family, which thence 
becomes his natural protector. In this family, a patriarchal 
government is, in a measure, thus established. For his physical 
welfare, his joys, his recompense, as well as for the administra- 
tion of justice, the slave is dependent on his master. On thfe 
other hand, the master understands that it is his interest to lighten 
as much as possible the burden of slavery. Hence he induces 
each of his slaves to take an interest in the cultivation of a small 
field, which becomes his property, and a means of enabling him 
to procure a few delicacies, either directly from the field itself, 
or by the sale of its products. This field, called a truck ji at chy 
he cultivates during his hours of leisure. Finally, the master 
supplies the slaves whom age and infirmities render incapable of 
labor with food, raiment, lodging, and necessary medical attend- 
ance. 

The liberated negroes are generally degraded, and of vicious 
habits and morals. They concentrate themselves in cities, where 
they perform the most menial labors. Their precarious and 
miserable existence often leads them into the hands of justice. 

Nevertheless, there is a numerous class who form an exception 
to this rule, and w'ho find honorable employment on steamboats, 
or as waiters and cooks in hotels. Moreover, as, in general, 
domesticlabors, as an occupation, are not performed in th'e United 
States by the white class, liberated slaves, or those born subse- 
quent to the abolition of slavery, fill the station of servants. 
They can therefore easily find employment if they are so dis- 
posed ; and if they fall into a state of wretchedness and want, it 
is because debauchery is natural to them, and because it is their 
nature to fear work. 

Despite this state of things, longevity among this class, as well 
as among the slaves, is, as I have already stated, greater than that 
among the whites. I have shown, in Chapter XV., that the pro- 
portional increase of the free people of color has been twenty- 



480 AMERICAN POVv^ER. 

three per cent. Therefore, the assertion that this class is in so 
desperate a condition as to be in danger of succumbing from 
want and misery through the civilization of the white race, is 
unfounded in fact. On the contrary, we may state that, among 
the entire population of the colored race in the United States, the 
mortality of the free negroes is but little greater than that of the 
slaves. 

The poorer or working classes cannot find, perhaps, in any 
quarter of the globe, resources equal to those assured to them by 
the vast and fertile territory of the Union, and its admirable insti- 
tutions. In fact, no individual in the United States can be so poor 
as to be unable to hope that at some future day he may become 
a proprietor in the vast solitudes of the west. The price of go- 
vernment lands is one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. 
Hence, for one or two hundred dollars he can purchase an excel- 
lent farm of one hundred and sixty acres. 

A laboring man may easily acquire in one year the means of 
obtaining this property. He takes a wife, who contributes, di- 
rectly or indirectly, to bring about this result. Full of confidence 
and hope, he directs his steps towards the west, where his labor, 
always in demand, is amply remunerated. In the first year of his 
arrival at his new domains, he can easily buy a cow and hogs, and 
provide support for his family. In a few years, everything mul- 
tiplies around him. Fowls, hogs, horses, and cattle, in great 
number, give an appearance of life to his fields, abundant in 
grain and other products of his industry. This constant spectacle 
fills his soul with gratitude to that Divine Providence which has 
placed within his reach the means of becoming the benefactor of 
all that surround him. And when the frosts of winter collect 
around his retreat all the creatures dependent at once on his fore- 
sight and his well-supplied granaries for the means of existence, 
this feeling of pious gratitude makes his breast heave with a deeper 
emotion; and he turns his eye towards heaven, and with heartfelt 
thankfulness acknowledges the kindness of Providence in placing 
him in so fortunate a position. 

His children imbibe these noble sentiments, for they are the 
daily witnesses of their manifestation. They become impressed, at 
every moment of their lives, with the dominant thought that fills 
their parent's mind — that man, under the immediate protection of 
Heaven, should consider himself and his industry his only safe 



CONDITION OF THE EUROPEAN EMIGRANT. 481 

dependence ; and that all he should demand of the statesmen whom 
his voice has contributed to place at the helm of affairs, is the 
guarantee of wise, just, and prudent laws. 

Such is, in general, the moral and physical condition of the 
working class in the United States. The exceptions to this rule 
are found only in the great cities on the Atlantic seaboard. There 
the principles, the habits, and the manners characteristic of 
the genuine American democrat have yet only inadequately im- 
pressed the emigrants that are constantly arriving in the United 
States. 

Moreover, it is unfortunately too true that emigrants, in seek- 
ing employment on American soil, are often so destitute of re- 
sources that they find it impossible to reach the interior of the 
United States, where their labor could be so usefully employed; 
while in the great cities in which they are obliged to remain they 
can abandon themselves for a time, even with more facility than 
in Europe, to debauchery and idleness. Soon, however, comes 
the sad alternative of perishing from want in this land of abun- 
dance, or of returning to Europe. 

I can give only one explanation of the cause of so unfortunate 
a position. It is this. The same men who, by the most extreme 
frugality and temperance, can only keep themselves from the po- 
sition of mendicants in Europe, no sooner place their feet on 
American soil than, forgetting their bygone misery, they squan- 
der in a moment the fruit of long and painful economy. 

Let the European laborer, then, who believes it his duty to seek 
the improvement of his condition by emigration, take counsel by 
my long experience. Let him live, in the country to which he 
emigrates, with the same economy, the same prudence, and with 
the same disposition to labor, with which he lived in the country 
of his birth ; and I can safely assure him that, in a very few years, 
he will have realized sufficient means to become a landed ■propri- 
etor in the immense western regions of the United States, where 
370,500,000 acres of excellent land are available, and only await 
the toil of the laborer to be productive. 
31 



482 AMERICAN POWER. 



CHAPTER XXII 



CONCLUSION. 



In the hands of the Americans, the New World has become 
land of prodigies — a land where each movement of man has been 
an advancement in social, political, and industrial life. The first 
emigrants had brought with them the germ of this progress, which 
the land and sky of America were to develop with all the energy 
of a virgin nature. The nation which they constituted towards 
the commencement of the seventeenth century, from the choicest 
elements the societies of the Old World at that time embodied, 
now, in fact, surpasses by far in prosperity the most favored 
nations of the globe. 

While the nations of the Old World have remained compara- 
tively stationary — if, in fact, some have not even retrograded, as far 
as the liberty and physical welfare of the people are concerned — so 
unparalleled a result would excite our disbelief, had we not the 
evidence of facts, and, for their explanation, the open pages of the 
history of the American people. 

What, then, have been the predominant causes of this develop- 
ment of civilization in the New World ? Must we seek them 
in the peculiar moral or physical conditions under which the new 
social edifice has been'raised to its present position ? Or must we 
attribute the result to a will superior to that of man, which, regu- 
lating the distribution of these elements, has wished to present to 
the people of the Old World a point of the globe towards which 
they could turn their eyes with hope and pleasure? 

Whatever influence may be assigned to these causes, there is 
one which appears to me to be pre-eminent — namely, the manner 
in which the early emigrants blended their religious opinions with 
the practice of political economy. Their social life embodied the 
elements of religion, of physical welfare, and of independence. 
Each individual was assured of the fruit of his labor ; each was en- 



CONCLUSION. 483 

couraged to look forward constantly to an increase of domestic pros- 
perity. Each individual being qualified to create a position in life 
corresponding to his choice, when he is assured that this position 
will be respected, the people of New England, harmonizing their 
institutions with this social law, introduced into their internal ad- 
ministration a greater degree of practical liberty and independ- 
ence than any community had exhibited prior to their existence. 

To these tendencies, we say, which still form the basis of social 
life in the United States, is to be especially attributed the present 
prosperity of the American people. 

Another element which deserves particular attention in the 
onward march of American society, is the care that the American 
democrat has taken, since the establishment of the central go- 
verntaent, to rivet by all the means in his power the chains which 
should bind one to another the various States of the Union, and 
thus to make each State a partaker in the resources of the entire 
nation; for the nature and spirit of American institutions are 
such as to withhold from the central, government an adequate 
degree of power to accomplish of itself this result. By this ad- 
mirable harmony of national feeling and patriotism, the independ- 
ence of the vast Republic of the United States is as firmly guaran- 
teed as though it were based on the most powerful governmental 
centralization. In cases of emergency, the whole nation is under 
arms, acts with entire unity, and thus accomplishes, w^ith all the 
vigor and energy derived from the sentiments of dignity and 
independence, the task confided, in countries of diflferent political 
organization, to specific classes of society. 

This peculiarity corresponds with what I have written on the 
subject of national defence in the United States. The reader has 
doubtless observed with what intelligence the Americans have 
combined in this system all the natural advantages which their 
territory presents. Thus, by works of art, they began, at a 
somewhat early period, so to improve and perfect the natural na- 
vigation of the country as to embrace in one system the principle 
centres of population and commerce in the United States. 

At a later period, when the genius of Robert Fulton had en- 
riched the world by his incomparable discovery, the Americans 
at once exhibited their ability to adapt the new element of power 
to the gigantic proportions of their continent ; and certainly, in no 
part of the civilized world, has steam accomplished such stu- 



484 AMERICAN POWER. 

pendous miracles ! Within the last fifteen or twenty years, it has 
given a new impulse to every productive branch of industry. 
The progress of agriculture has been coincident with that of manu- 
factures ; and the progress of both with the augmentation of con- 
sumption. 

In fine, the application of steam to our modern means of trans- 
portation has already produced a considerable change, and it is yet 
destined to work a far greater change, in political economy. Among 
the facts it has established, the following may be regarded as the 
most important : That the amount of products consumed by the » 
masses of mankind, whether articles of luxury or of necessity, is 
in direct proportion to the facilities they possess of procuring them ; 
that the surest means of augmenting population is the develop- 
ment of the means of providing for its existence ; that a nation 
can become rich, even though its importations exceed its export- 
ations ; that in consequence of this disproportion, the nation cannot 
retain its gold and silver; that the retention of this gold and silver 
in the country, even though it were possible, would result in 
greater loss than gain to the public; that, in other words, the 
precious metals ought to be considered the ordinary currency of 
commerce; that national wealth is more thoroughly realized when 
individual interests are left to their own development than when 
they are made the objects of specific intervention on the part of 
the government ; that every species of industry which contributes 
to the sum total of the well-being of society is profitable to the 
entire nation in the same proportion that it is profitable to the in- 
dividual ; that luxury is unaccompanied with danger when it is 
the result of labor; that, in fine, each nation has a direct interest 
in the prosperity of its neighbors. 

The peace and harmony in which a people live are generally 
considered the principal sources of public happiness. Never- 
theless, the rivalries created by a division of communities like that 
of the United States, and the stirring movements of a free people, 
form the school of man, and constitute the principles of political 
life. 

These principles, though apparently antagonistic, do not require 
to be reconciled ; they mutually co-operate in the preservation of 
the United States. 

Political agitation is not disorder. This is the only means a 
free people possesses of manifesting its will. Its exhibition, there- 



CONCLUSION. 485 

fore, is the fulfilment of a sacred duty. For, in a country where 
free institutions exist, and where these institutions are the expres- 
sion of the will of the citizens, inasmuch as they are established 
by laws of their own creation, public order is not what, in the 
old cities of Europe, the term is ordinarily understood to denote — 
that is to say, the passive submission of a people to the will of a 
minority which directs the affairs of state. In such circum- 
stances, the nature even of the subject under discussion requires 
a manifestation of popular will which could be obtained only 
through a movement calculated to excite fear. 

In the United States, universal suffrage is regarded as the sole 
means of arriving at a regular and complete expression of public 
opinion. The frequent, though transitory, agitations which attend 
the exercise of this suffrage never excite apprehension relative 
to the public tranquillity. They never disturb the harmony of 
society. The character of these pacific agitations changes only 
in the degree in which the opinions of which they are the legiti- 
mate mode of expression change. 

These excitements are the safeguards of a free people. The 
tranquillity and silence of a people under the circumstances which 
produce them would be the unfailing sign of servility. 

Therefore we ought to entertain no apprehensions that the 
American people will lose their national spirit while their free 
institutions — which enable each individual to express his will rela- 
tive to the course of public affairs, which keep the people in a state 
of watchfulness, which serve to maintain among them a whole- 
some public sentiment, and which, in fine, tend to direct their 
minds to the affairs of state, for which all, as far as the laws are 
concerned, are equally well adapted — exist in their primitive 
purity. 

The American nation still exists in all the vigor of early youth, 
though it has already taken its rank, through its intellectual and 
material development in the last fifty years, among the most pros- 
perous and civilized nations of the world. The maintenance of 
its admirable institutions is secured by the faith which yet charac- 
terizes its people, and by the knowledge which is so amply dif- 
fused among them ; while the immense territory yet uncultivated 
in America will furnish for a long time to come the aliment which 
appears to be indispensable to the restless activity which consti- 
tutes the life of democracy. 



486 AMERICAN POWER. 

Moreover, the spirit of enterprise, which seems to be the dis- 
tinctive characteristic of the American, will not only impel him to 
make conquests of unexplored lands, but it will also impel him to 
seek on the ocean the means of satisfying so imperious a necessity 
of his nature. 

At an early period, in fact, the Americans were accustomed to 
consider the sea a domain which it was their duty to make a source 
of profit ; for the extensive line presented by the coasts of the 
Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean seemed to 
invite their instinctive genius to take its flight on that element. 
After their separation from the mother country, this tendency re- 
ceived a powerful stimulus. Since that period, their natural am- 
bition and their industry have enabled them to realize all the 
wealth and advantage this vast field could furnish them. 

At present, the vessels of the United States are encountered in 
every sea and in every port. In fine, the Americans enter into 
competition with the manufactures of every other nation, not only 
on their own soil, but even on that of their competitors. 

Now, with all these elements of industrial prosperity so lavishly 
distributed among the American people, can any one believe that 
the United States can thus extend itself without coming in contact 
at some period with England? — a nation which has impressed the 
seal of its monopoly on every part of the world, which has planted 
its flag on every coast, whose tradesmen, in fine, have carried 
their merchandise to every market in the world ? Certainly not ; 
and that day, if it has not already come, cannot be far distant. 
These nations cannot, then, fail to measure with each other their 
strength ; and the shock of their collision will be felt by all Eu- 
rope ! The world will then witness one of those struggles which 
will be the more terrible because the offspring of a rivalry and 
antagonism of interest, and of an instinctive antipathy the more 
intense, inasmuch as it is fraternal. 

In this struggle, which will have its foundation in material 
interests, the only elements which, in the present day, are suffi- 
ciently powerful to stir the heart of man, the two formidable 
champions will possess the same resources, the same arms, will 
be moved by the same passions, and will be stimulated by the 
same object! But the avowed pretext of each will be different. 
The one will seek to establish its supremacy on the ocean — a 
supremacy that it has already acquired to the detriment of other 



CONCLUSION. 487 

manufacturing and maritime nations. The other, on the contrary, 
will seek to reclaim the freedom of the seas and of commerce, 
agreeably to the superiority of its strength, and of its commercial 
and industrial genius, with the object of overcoming the rivalry 
of its competitors. 

The American nation will then present itself anew in the lists, 
with the beautiful motto it sustained in 1812 — Free ships, free 
goods. 

' But if the Americans were able to sustain the last war with 
England — a war conducted at a period when their population was 
not half so numerous as at present, and when they possessed but 
one-third of the resources they now possess — what advantages 
would they not have at the present time ! Without debt, how 
much better prepared than their rivals, burdened with an immense 
national debt, to support a direct tax ! 

The Americans, it is true, devote their attention, more than any 
other people, to the improvement of their condition — to the means, 
in fact, of acquiring wealth. But no people are so well able to 
endure privations, for their soil can always furnish them with the 
necessaries of life in abundance. Besides, the Americans are by 
nature at least as obstinate as their antagonists the English. 
Therefore, it is not to be presumed that they would be seen, in 
their resistance, yielding to the dominant and haughty policy of 
England. 

When this struggle of nation with nation, through rivalry of 
material interests, shall take place, and when hostilities shall 
daily become more threatening abroad, what ought tabe the hope, 
the refuge of France? W^hat part, in fine, ought France to act.-^ 

In view of all the conditions of its political and social organi- 
zation, of its commercial and industrial position, this appears to 
be clearly determined. 

With respect to its principles and interests, it finds itself in 
harmony with the United States. Between American democracy 
and French democracy there are relations which time can only 
bind together the more closely. Such is the distinctive genius of 
the two people that they can never enter into competition with 
each other: for the one pursues wealth — the other seeks superi- 
ority of intelligence ; the one renders homage to material inte- 
rests — the other to the sentiments of honor which have at all times 
caused the breast of a Frenchman to vibrate. 



488 AMERICAN POWER. 

The name of France, in America, is an object of sympathy; 
the title of Frenchman a claim to the esteem and consideration of 
the Americans. There the remembrance of our chivalrous cha- 
racter and our disinterestedness, which are engraven in the annals 
of the War of Independence, is fondly cherished. And this cha- 
racter, numerous exiles of every party have preserved intact by 
the manner in which they have honored the French name. 

Everything, therefore, seems to indicate the intimate union 
which should exist between the two nations at a time when the 
tranquillity of the world shall again be disturbed by the intolera- 
ble insolence of a power whose cupidity is as insatiable as its 
ambition is cruel. 

In that contingency, it is desirable that both nations should 
rivet their international bonds by mutual concessions; for between 
France and America there exists a natural alliance. And it is 
written on high that the defenders of liberty on either side of the 
Atlantic must one day make common cause, and fight under the 
same colors in the war that shall be waged for the rights of man. 
To foresee the future, and to prepare for it, would, therefore, be 
only an act of wisdom. 



THE END. 



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